Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar were involved in a war of words on 28th July, underlining the tension brewing between pro- and anti-Modi people within the film industry. Calling himself a refugee, Shekhar Kapoor tweeted on Sunday that he was fearful of intellectuals. That did it. Javed Akhtar tweeted soon thereafter that Kapur needed help and that there was no shame in meeting a good psychiatrist.
The Twitter spat between the director and the writer, who collectively gave Mr. India, is to be viewed in light of the letter written by 49 celebrities, many from the film industry, to PM Narendra Modi, demanding exemplary punishment to those indulging in lynchings, and the counter-letter written by 62 famous personalities, again many of who belonged to the film world, to the Prime Minister, decrying the selective outrage and false narrative of the 49 persons. Shekhar Kapur did not figure in the list of signatories to any of the two letters. His tweet read: “Started like a refugee of Partition. Parents gave everything to make a life for kids. Was always in fear of ‘intellectuals’. They made me feel insignificant. Small. Then suddenly embraced me after my films. I still fear them. Their embrace is like a bite of snake. Still a refugee.”
Javed Akhtar responded on Twitter, demanding to know which intellectuals Shekhar feared and whose embrace he found like a bite of snake. He named some of the 49 signatories to the letter, including Shyam Benegal, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Ram Chandra Guha, and wondered whether Shekhar was referring to them in his tweet. Javed added sarcastically, “Really? Shekhar saheb, you are not well. You need help. Come on, there is no shame in meeting a good psychiatrist.” He dismissed Shekhar Kapur’s tweet as a fog of words to give a halo to a right wing mindset.