Lucky Ali issues apology after calling Javed Akhtar ‘ugly and hardly original’; calls him a ‘monster’

Lucky Ali issued a sarcastic apology after calling Javed Akhtar ugly and hardly original, over the lyricist’s resurfaced remarks on religion.

Singer-songwriter Lucky Ali “apologised” for his recent remarks on veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar — though not without a touch of sarcasm. Days after calling Akhtar “ugly as f**k” while reacting to an old video of the writer, the O Sanam hitmaker shared a new post clarifying that his words were miscommunicated and not meant to offend.

Lucky Ali had called Javed Akhtar ugly and hardly original in his earlier post.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Lucky wrote, “What I meant was that arrogance is ugly…. it was a mistaken communique on my part…. monsters may have feelings too and I apologise if I hurt anyone’s monstrosity….”

His post came after a viral clip of Javed Akhtar resurfaced online, triggering heated debate. Reacting to the same video earlier, Ali had commented, “Don’t become like Javed Akhtar, never original and ugly as f**k…” — a line that immediately drew attention for its sharp personal tone and bluntness.

The clip that prompted Ali’s reaction featured Javed Akhtar speaking about changing cultural sensitivities while recalling a scene from Sholay, which he co-wrote with Salim Khan. Akhtar said, “In Sholay, there was a scene where Dharmendra hides behind Shiv ji’s murti and speaks, and Hema Malini (thinks) Shiv ji is talking to her. Is it possible to have a scene like that today? No, I will not write a scene (like this today). Were there no Hindus in 1975 (when Sholay released)? Were there no dharmic people? There were.”

He added, “As a matter of fact, I'm on record, I'm not saying it right here. Raju Hirani and I were in Pune in front of a big audience and I said, ‘Don't become like Muslims. Make them like yourself. You are becoming like Muslims.’ It's a tragedy.”

HT has reached out to both Lucky Ali and Javed Akhtar independently for a comment.