Javed Akhtar took a dig at Yash Raj, said- he/she does not know the meaning of a modern woman

Writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar, who wrote famous films like ‘Sholay’ and ‘Mr. India’, is often famous for speaking his/her mind on every issue. Recently, he/she took a dig at a dialogue used in Yash Chopra’s last film ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’. In an interview, he/she was asked what is the concept of modern women and why there is a lack of strong female characters in films? In response to this, Javed Akhtar gave examples of films and dialogues. And blamed the society that their concept is not clear, due to which talented actresses like Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit did not get to play larger-than-life roles. Javed Akhtar said in an interview with ‘We Are Yuva’, ‘When you are not what you pretend to be, you exaggerate it. Yash Chopra had a film, Jab Tak Hai Jaan. There were two actresses in this film. There was a dialogue in it, I will get married only after I have slept with boys from every nationality in the world. I say why would you work so hard? You are empowered, modern, forward thinking and I believe that. You don’t need to work so hard. There are many countries in the world. Don’t waste your time on that. What do you mean by this dialogue? And this is a Yash Chopra film. Because he/she wants to show that there is an empowered girl and he/she doesn’t even know what an empowered girl is. That’s why he/she is exaggerating it.

Javed Akhtar said for Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit

Javed Akhtar further said, ‘Earlier, an Indian woman, whose husband would come home drunk from the club and fall on the bed, would take off his/her shoes. Now it is not so. What is a modern woman today? I think people still do not know about it properly. The society itself is not clear about this concept. Talented actresses Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit ruled the screen for about 10-13 years. In their entire career, they never got to do a Larger Than Life role. But Meena Kumari got a role. However, there was a reason behind her getting it. Because the morals were clear at that time. Nutan also got such roles in Bandini and Sujata, when she too was suffering from all these things.’

Javed Akhtar gave the example of his/her daughter Zoya’s films

Javed Akhtar claimed that the film industry still does not have a clear concept of what a modern woman is, so it could not give a single such role to talented actresses like Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit. he/she said, ‘Conservative people believe that if they start talking about a modern woman, they will lose their territory. Liberal people are afraid that if they define it, someone else will become more liberal than them. So the problem is that people still do not know much about a modern woman. However, the female characters in Zoya’s films are still women. Be it Luck by Chance or Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara or Dil Dhadakne Do. They are all modern women.’