Mumbai: Veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar on Monday told a Mumbai court that certain comments made by film star Kangana Ranaut during an interview to a news channel after the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June 2020 were "nothing but a lie”.

Akhtar made the remarks when he appeared before Andheri metropolitan magistrate court for cross-examination by defence lawyer in a defamation case filed by him against Kangana. Akthar had filed a complaint in the magistrate's court in November 2020, claiming Kangana had made certain defamatory statements against him in a television interview, which allegedly damaged his reputation.

In the interview given to a news channel in 2020 after the death of Rajput, among other statements, Kangana had claimed Akhtar asked her to apologise to co-star Hrithik Roshan, who in 2016 filed a lawsuit against her seeking an apology after public spat over a statement on their alleged relationship.

“Once Javed Akhtar called me to his house and told me Rakesh Roshan (father of Hrithik Roshan) and his family are very big people. If you don't apologize to them, you will have nowhere to go. They will put you in jail, and eventually, the only path would be that of destruction… you will commit suicide. These were his words. He shouted and yelled at me. I was shaking in his house," Kangana had told the channel.

“Whatever Kangana said in the interview is a lie and nothing but a lie.” She had come to his house to explore some kind of a solution to settle issues with her co-star, he said.