Javed Akhtar’s Twitter meltdown should not be missed

Lyricist Javed Akhtar has been spending his new year’s eve defending plagiarism charges for some of his blockbuster hits like Sholay in a full fledged Twitter meltdown that has now entered its third day.

It all started when Javed Akhtar gave a vile response to a Twitter user who was disappointed by Akhtar’s stand. Akhtar’s arrogant tweet got Twitter users riled up who pointed out to him that even his most celebrated work, Sholay, has parts which are lifted from various movies.

https://twitter.com/reviewero/status/947114188941299712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/sharman1280/status/947386291984900096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
When a user pointed out a scene which seems to have been inspiration of the famous scene of Thakur family murder in Sholay, Akhtar wasn’t too happy.

https://twitter.com/Javedakhtarjadu/status/947514370355023872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
When Twitter users pointed out that Akhtar should really be ashamed of plagiarising content for the classic film Sholay, he threw some more attitude around.

https://twitter.com/Javedakhtarjadu/status/947542562100908038?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
When another user pointed out the irony over Akhtar getting upset when Ram Gopal Varma directed the bizarre film Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag inspired from Sholay, when Sholay itself had scenes lifted from other films, Akhtar’s response reeked of arrogance.

https://twitter.com/Javedakhtarjadu/status/947659794357239808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
After the ‘father’ jibe, he even did a ‘nephew’ taunt.

https://twitter.com/Javedakhtarjadu/status/947579886838824960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Rather than being humble and apologising for his abusive remarks, Akhtar continued his tripe on Twitter, assessing people’s IQ.

https://twitter.com/Javedakhtarjadu/status/947742185314586624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
But as another user pointed out, perhaps the money couldn’t buy dignity.

https://twitter.com/Javedakhtarjadu/status/947598920250564609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This is not the first time Akhtar has had a rather public breakdown on social media. Earlier this year, the master of words Javed Akhtar had called Gold medal winning athletes as “hardly literate” persons. Just because they seemingly differed from his world view on an issue.  The same Javed Akhtar has been slammed on social media time and again for his blatant shows of hypocrisy (1)(2). More recently he was exposed on social media, as he tried to defend Triple Talaq by bringing in false equivalence.

Social media is indeed a great leveller.

Nirwa Mehta: Politically incorrect. Author, Flawed But Fabulous.