Javed Akhtar denies credits as lyricist for the biopic of Modi

Mumbai: On Wednesday, the released trailer from the biopic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi features some prominent names from Bollywood like actors Vivek Oberoi and Boman Irani, even credits Javed Akhtar as a lyricist. But, the poet-lyricist took it to the social networking platform of Twitter saying that, he has not written any songs for "PM Narendra Modi".

Mr Akhtar on his Twitter account had shared a still from the biopic trailer that shows the credits, he said he was "shocked to find his name" there. The screenshot from "PM Narendra Modi" trailer had credited Javed Akhtar at the bottom of the poster as a lyricist along with Central Board of Film Certification chief and well-known lyricist Prasoon Joshi, Sameer and others.

Javed Akhtar's tweet has been liked over 15,000 times and retweeted over 5,600 times. The filmmakers are yet to respond to the controversy.

As many claimed that the lyricist credited could be a different Javed Akhtar while others asked Mr Akhtar to file a defamation suit against the filmmakers. Many had even attacked the poet-lyricist possibly for his past perspective of maintaining cultural ties with Pakistan prior to the Pulwama attack.

Javed Akhtar along with his actor wife Shabana Azmi had been the vocal supporters of cultural exchange with Pakistan. However, after the Pulwama attack on February 14, with the killing of 40 CRPF jawans, the couple had immediately called off the cultural exchange programmes.

Vivek Oberoi is reportedly essaying the role of PM Modi.in the biopic, "PM Narendra Modi". The film has been directed by a seasoned biopic director Omung Kumar, who is well known for his previous works of Sarbjit and Mary Kom.