The veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar finds filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s response to criticism of his film ‘Animal’ amusing. He commented sarcastically that the director chose to bring his son Farhan Akhtar’s work into the discussion because he couldn’t pick out anything to criticize in his illustrious 53-year career.

During a conversation with Barkha Dutt for Mojo Story, Akhtar said, “When he responded to me, I was honoured. In 53 years of my career, he could not find one film, one script, one scene, one dialogue, one song. So he had to go to my son’s office and find a TV serial, which is neither acted, directed, nor written by Farhan. His company has produced it. Nowadays, these big companies like Excel are producing a lot of things. So, one of them is this. He mentioned that. It flattered me to no end. 53 years ke career mein tum kuch bhi nahi nikaal paye (You couldn’t find anything sexist in 53 years of my career)? What a shame.”

The lyricist also went on to clarify that he doesn’t have an issue with ‘Animal’ as a film, but is concerned about how popular it has become among audiences. “I was not criticizing the filmmaker at all. I think in a democratic society, he has the right to make one ‘Animal,’ and many Animals. I was concerned about the audience, not about the filmmaker. He has the right to make any film.”

It all started when Javed Akhtar stated that the success of films like ‘Animal’ is dangerous. In response to his statement, in an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Sandeep Reddy Vanga asked the veteran star to have a look at his own son’s work, who was producing shows like ‘Mirzapur,’ known for featuring coarse language and violence.

‘Animal,’ starring Ranbir Kapoor in the lead role, has earned more than Rs 900 crores at global box office figures despite the controversies surrounding its portrayal of misogyny, toxic masculinity and extreme gore content.