Source : INDIATV NEWS
Last month, Akhtar said in an interview that there is hardly “any warmth today” in India-Pakistan cultural ties, the veteran screenwriter-poet noted while saying that this is not the time to even think about whether Pakistani artists should be allowed to work in India.
Javed Akhtar, renowned screenwriter and lyricist, who was speaking at Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut’s book launch on Saturday night in Mumbai, said that if there comes a time he has to choose between Pakistan and hell, he would prefer to go to hell. Akhtar, 80, said extremists from both India and Pakistan shower abuses on him on a daily basis.
“Someday, I’ll show you my Twitter (now X) and WhatsApp. I am abused by both sides. I’m not thankless, so I’ll say there are also people who appreciate what I say and encourage me. But it’s true that extremists from both here and there abuse me. This is right. If one of them stops abusing me, it’ll be a matter of concern for me.”
Akhtar, amid a round of applause from the audience, said, “One side says, ‘You are a kaafir (non-believer) and will go to hell. The other side says, ‘Jihadi, go to Pakistan.’ If the choice is between Pakistan and hell, I would prefer to go to hell.”
“That way they can say what they feel is right and what is wrong. There should be no party loyalty. All parties are ours, and yet no party is ours. I’m also one of those citizens. If you speak from one side, you’ll make the other side unhappy. But if you speak out from different points of view, you make many more people unhappy,” he added.
Akhtar, who came to Mumbai at the age of 19, credited the city and Maharashtra for all his achievements.
In his last 30 years of living in Mumbai, the veteran poet said he was given police protection four times on threat perception, out of which three times because of “mullahs”.
Last month, Akhtar said in an interview with PTI there is hardly “any warmth today” in India-Pakistan cultural ties, the veteran screenwriter-poet noted while saying that this is not the time to even think about whether Pakistani artists should be allowed to work in India.
His comments came after “Abir Gulaal”, a film featuring Pakistani star Fawad Khan, was not allowed to release in theatres in India in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack.
(With inputs from PTI)
