Days after calling him “ugly as f**k”, singer-songwriter Lucky Ali ‘apologized’ to veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar. Ali (67) wrote in an X post that his words were not meant to offend. He wrote on Wednesday, “what I meant was that arrogance is ugly... it was a mistaken communique’ on my part... monsters may have feelings too and I apologize if I hurt anyone's monstrosity... (sic)”

This comes after his post on October 20, “Don’t become like Javed Akhtar, never original and ugly as f***,” over Akhtar’s (80) interview with India Film Project from last year that resurfaced online. Citing a scene from Sholay (1975), which he co-wrote with Salim Khan, Akhtar had said, “There was a scene where Dharmendra hides behind Shiv ji’s idol, and he speaks from that place. Hema Malini thinks Shiv ji is talking to her. Is it possible to have a scene like that today? No.”

Akhtar also remarked, “(Filmmaker) Raju Hirani and I were in Pune, and I said that don’t become like Muslims. Make them like yourselves. You are becoming like Muslims. It’s a tragedy.”

Akhtar did not publicly respond to Ali’s comments till the time of going to press.