Zoya Akhtar hits back at Kangana Ranaut over Gully Boy criticism: ‘She’s gone on every platform and said she doesn’t like my work’

Filmmaker Zoya Akhtar has responded to actor Kangana Ranaut’s sustained criticism of her film, Gully Boy. Zoya in an appearance on India Today TV with her brother, filmmaker and actor Farhan Akhtar, and their father, lyricist Javed Akhtar, said that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and that she isn’t bothered by criticism.

Asked if she’d invite Kangana to her next party, Zoya said, “She has gone on every platform and basically said that she does not like my work, so I shouldn’t be putting her in that position.” Kangana in several interviews has dismissed Gully Boy, a film about an aspiring rap musician, starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt. The film, besides being a major box office success, was selected as India’s official entry to the 2020 Oscars.

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Kangana has said that Sushant Singh Rajput’s Chhichhore was a far more deserving, and better film. Zoya said that she isn’t bothered by conversations about whether or not Gully Boy deserved the awards that it got. It won a record 13 Filmfares. “Not at all, because I didn’t go for the award ceremonies, for starters, and it’s not important. She herself has boycotted the awards, so I don’t know why she keeps talking about them,” Zoya said.

She added, “You make a film and everybody is entitled to their opinion, and they are entitled to share this opinion because we are still a democracy. I can’t get offended. I have chosen to be here and do this work, and there will be people who don’t like my work and there are people that like my work, and it’s fine.

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The Akhtars also discussed nepotism in the film industry. Zoya said, “If I have money, I am putting money on my son, this is nepotism? Then every industry there is nepotism,” she said. Farhan added, “If you are very talented, your talent will find a way to the surface. That is bound to happen.” Zoya said, “If I am a barber and I have a barber shop, am I going to leave it to my son or am I going to leave it to the best barber in the city? And that’s the bottom line.”

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