‘Nothing but a lie’: Javed Akhtar on Kangana Ranaut’s comments against him in TV interview

In his complaint, Akhtar said he was shocked to see the interview on July 19, 2020, where Ranaut had alleged his involvement in Rajput’s death and had referred to him and others as the ‘suicide gang’ of Bollywood. In his complaint, Akhtar said Ranaut had given her opinion on the circumstances around the death of Rajput “without appearing to have any direct personal knowledge of the circumstances around his death”.

Most of the questions asked to Akhtar during the cross-examination related to a ‘personal dispute’ she had with one of her former co-stars.

In a counter-complaint filed by Ranaut in 2021, she alleged that Akhtar had called her and her sister to his house during the dispute and “criminally intimidated and threatened her”. Akhtar denied this and said Ranaut had been called to his home by another person known to both of them and that she was aware of the agenda of the meeting. He also denied that she had left the meeting as she was upset and said that they had parted on a cordial note.

He said that he realised that she was unwilling to listen to him, and he changed the topic and spoke about her films and work, stating that he had always liked her work. He also denied that he had not given a disclosure to the court about the sequence of events in the meeting.

The cross-examination concluded on Monday.