Javed Akhtar HITS Back At Bushra Ansari Over 'No One Rents Him A Flat' Remark

News18

4 days ago

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Veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar responded sharply to Pakistani actress Bushra Ansari's claim that 'no one rents him a flat in Mumbai.'
Veteran lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar has broken his silence on Pakistani actress Bushra Ansari's recent comments targeting him. Weeks after Ansari mocked him in a social media post—alleging that he 'can't even get a house on rent in Mumbai" and advising him to 'stay quiet like Naseeruddin Shah"—Akhtar offered a calm but firm rebuttal during a candid conversation with Lallantop.
'There is this Pakistani actress, Bushra Ansari, she often talks about me," Akhtar said. 'She once advised me to keep quiet. She said something like, 'Naseeruddin Shah stays quiet, you should too.' My question to her is: 'Who is she to tell me when to talk and when not to? Who gave you this right and why do you expect me to take your advice?'"
Akhtar continued by asserting his position as an Indian first. 'We internally might have several problems," he acknowledged, 'but if an outsider comes to comment, I am an Indian. Why do they forget that? I won't keep quiet."
When the interviewer brought up Ansari's claim that he doesn't get a house on rent in Mumbai, Akhtar responded with biting sarcasm: 'Yes right, Shabana and I have been sleeping on the streets lately. Kya yaar, ab kya bole?" he quipped, chuckling at the absurdity.
Akhtar then elaborated on the long-standing anecdote that may have sparked Ansari's remark. 'About 25 years ago, Shabana wanted to buy a flat for investment," he recounted. 'But the broker said that the owner would not sell to a Muslim. The reason? His parents were driven out of Sindh during the Partition. That wound runs deep. So if he refused, it wasn't because she was Muslim—it was his displaced anger. So who is she (Bushra Ansari) to twist that context and take a dig? They should reflect on their own history before pointing fingers."
Bushra Ansari had earlier reacted to Akhtar's speech at the Gauravshaali Maharashtra Mahotsav, where he condemned the brutal killing of 26 tourists by a terrorist group in Pahalgam's Baisaran meadows. 'Yeh baat humein bhulni nahi chahiye, yeh mamooli baat nahi hai," Akhtar had said at the event. Ansari, reacting sharply to his comments, said, 'Unko toh bahana hi chahiye tha… Actually, unko toh makaan kiraaye pe nahi milta tha Bombay mein." She added, 'Chaloji chup kar jaaye aap. Naseeruddin Shah bhi toh hai, woh chup baithe hain na? Aur bhi toh chup baithe hain. Jiske dil mein jo hai, woh rakh rahe."
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