Javed Akhtar on Dharmendra and Hema Malini's temple scene from 'Sholay': 'Wouldn't write it today because...'

Veteran writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar recalled his biggest blockbuster Sholay at a recent event organised by ABP Majha. He threw light on on Dharmendra and Hema Malini’s temple scene from the film and said he wouldn’t write the scene today.

He reasons, “If I were writing the script for Sholay today, that temple scene between Dharmendra and Hema Malini, I would not have written it. Because it could get problematic. It will become an issue, I have seen this with a few other films that land in controversy over small things. Earlier it wasn’t like that.”

The veteran writer and lyricist was also invited to be a part of the Ajanta Ellora International Film Festival (AIFF) where he spoke about Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s film Animal.

He said, “It’s very dangerous when a movie, in which a man tells a woman to lick his shoe, and believes that slapping a girl is normal, works at the box office.”

He added, “People tell me that they are not liking the songs of recent times. But only 5-6 people are responsible for the making of the song. A song like Choli Ke Peeche Kya hai was made by 8-10 people. They aren’t the real problem. The real problem is that the song became superhit, it was liked by millions. This is what I’m afraid of.”

Days after Javed Akhtar took a swipe at “Animal“, the team of the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer on Sunday clapped back at the veteran lyricist-writer asking to “let love be free from the politics of gender”.

Akhtar, who along with former writing partner Salim Khan, is known for penning films such as “Zanjeer”, “Deewar”, and “Mr India“, recently said the commercial success of films with problematic scenes was a “dangerous” trend.

While he didn’t mention the name of “Animal“, the screenwriter cited the example of the film’s controversial bootlicking scene featuring Ranbir and Triptii Dimri, who play Ranvijay and Zoya.