Javed Akhtar calls cancel culture 'a passing phase’ as films fail at box office

Javed Akhtar commented about Bollywood films not bringing audience to the theaters and said that he doesn't believe if boycott calls are actually the reason behind it.

Veteran lyricist, writer Javed Akhtar in a new interview talked about the effects of cancel culture in the film industry and called it a ‘phase.’ The recent big productions like Laal Singh Chaddha, Shamshera and Raksha Bandhan among others failed at the box office after many social media users called for a boycott citing varied reasons. Talking about it, Javed said he doubts if such calls actually work at all.

Javed Akhtar reacted to Boycott culture in Bollywood.

While many celebrities have admitted that Bollywood is going through a strange time, many pan-India films are performing better in the Hindi belt. The latest example is actor Nikhil’s Karthikeya 2, which has recorded much better business than Vijay Deverakonda’s Bollywood debut Liger. Days after Liger faced calls for a boycott, the film crashed after the first weekend, as per boxofficeindia.com.

When asked about the challenging times amid the ongoing cancel culture, Javed Akhtar told ETimes, “It is a passing phase. It is very evident that it doesn’t work. If the film is good and is appreciated by the audience, it will work. If it is not good and not appreciated by the audience, it won’t work. I don’t think this kind of announcement of cancel culture and boycott works at all.”

The latest film to not work at the ticket window is Liger. The south India distributor of the movie, Warangal Srinu said that there ‘seems to be a concerted campaign’ against the team. Speaking with Times of India, he added, "Sabotage is the word." He also clarified about losing ₹100 crore in the last 12 months. Refuting the claims, he said that he lost 'a lot of money, no doubt’ and shared, "As on Liger, I have lost something to the tune of 65 per cent of my investment."