Javed Akhtar calls Naseeruddin Shah an angry middle-aged man

Javed Akhtar has offered a characteristically sharp response to the political row over Naseeruddin Shah’s latest comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His position is not a simple one: Shah could have chosen better words, but he should not be treated as the sole face of a much wider problem.

Shah had said, without naming anyone, that if an illiterate person governs the country, that person would want the country to become “illiterate, insensible, incapable, and unsuccessful” like him. The line was widely viewed as aimed at PM Modi and brought instant political criticism.

“Angry middle-aged man” is not the whole picture

Speaking to Indian Express Hindi, Akhtar said he could not judge whether Shah’s remark came from a personal grudge. He did, however, say the veteran actor could have been more restrained.

Akhtar used the phrase “civilised language,” and added that Shah is “an angry middle-aged man, so that is how he speaks.” He also made it clear that the view is Shah’s opinion and left it there.

The real argument: public speech has changed

Akhtar quickly moved beyond the actor to a larger point about Indian public debate. He argued that the political language of today simply did not appear in the 1950s, even among people on the extreme left and extreme right.

His contention is that harsh rhetoric is no longer unusual, which is why he refuses to isolate Shah:

• He says political figures across the spectrum now use coarse language.
• He estimates he could name 15 far more prominent leaders with similar rhetoric.
• Those leaders, he notes, command audiences of crores.

“So why single out Naseer?” Akhtar asked in the interview.

Why fans should care beyond the controversy

For Bollywood watchers, this is not just a political headline. It is another reminder that film personalities carry real influence in India’s public square, and that their words often travel as far as the films they make.

Akhtar’s own career sits exactly at that crossroads. He is vocal on social and political questions, and in the same interview he criticised secular intellectuals and Muslim community leaders over the triple talaq reform. He asked why the change had to come from the BJP-led government rather than from within the Muslim community itself.

His current creative work keeps him in that conversation too. He has written the songs for Rajkumar Santoshi’s Batwara 1947, reconnecting with AR Rahman on tracks such as “Tabassum” and “Kahaan Chale Gaye Ho Ram.”

The controversy may not settle the question of how celebrities should speak about politics. But Akhtar has reframed it: the issue, as he sees it, is the deterioration of public language, not one actor’s temper.

Source: India Today