Javed Akhtar did not mince his words in a recent interview, and talked at length about the portrayal of modern Indian women in Cinema. The veteran lyricist and screenwriter was in conversation for an episode of Be A Man, Yaar! when he took the example of Yash Chopra's Jab Tak Hai Jaan, and called out a dialogue spoken by a female character in the film.  

What Javed said

Javed began, "Ek picture thi Yash Chopra saab ki, Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Usme ek dialogue he from one of the heroines, ‘Mein duniya mein jitni nationalities hein, har nationality ke ek admi ke ladke ke saath sone ke baad shaadi karungi!’ Arre bhai tu itni mehnat kyu karegi? Tu empowered hain? Tu modern hain? Tu cool hain? Tu forward thinking hain? Maan jaate hei na… itni mehnat karne ki zaroorat nahi hain tumko! Bahoot nationalities hain duniya mein us chakkar mein mat paro (There was a Yash Chopra film named Jab Tak Hai Jaan, in which there is a dialogue where one of the heroines says that I will marry you after I sleep with one man from all the nationalities. But why would you do so much hard work? Are you empowered and modern and cool? We agree so you let go of that hard work. There are a lot of nationalities)."

Is dialogue ka kya matlab hain?

He went on to add, “Ab ye kya hain? Is dialogue ka kya matlab hain? Kahan aa rahi hain? Yash Chopra ki film mein (What is this dialogue doing in a Yash Chopra film)! Because they want to fake that this is an empowered girl. They are not very clear what is an empowered girl so they are exaggerating.” Javed added that the filmmakers today are still confused about the idea of a modern Indian woman.

Jab Tak Hai Jaan was the last film of Yash Chopra, and was released in 2012 after his death. The romantic drama starred Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma.

Javed's last movie as a lyricist was Kho Gaye Hum Kahan.

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