Kangana Ranaut, Javed Akhtar end legal battle; actress teases potential collaboration

Kangana Ranaut and lyricist Javed Akhtar just resolved their defamation case through mediation. The two even post for a happy picture after they settled the matter. The actor-MP and the veteran lyricist reached a settlement in their defamation suits against each other. Kangana Ranaut also took to Instagram to share a post for her fans along with the picture of herself and Akhtar.

What happened between Kangana Ranaut and Javed Akhtar in 2016?

In her post, she was all praise for Javed Akhtar, and also mentioned that he has agreed to write songs for her next directorial project. Kangana Ranaut and Javed Akhtar seemed to have moved on from the legal conflict, with both parties settling their differences amicably. Their legal battle began in 2020, after Javed Akhtar filed a complaint claiming Kangana Ranaut had made defamatory statements against him in a television interview, which damaged his reputation.

“Today Javed ji and I have resolved our legal matter (defamation case) through mediation, in the mediation Javed ji has been very kind and gracious, he also agreed to write songs for my next directorial,” Kangana wrote with the post.

Tensions between the two began with an interview given to a news channel by Kangana in 2020 after the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. Among other statements, Kangana Ranaut had claimed Javed Akhtar asked her to apologise to co-star Hrithik Roshan. For those who don’t know, in 2016, Hrithik Roshan filed a lawsuit against Kangana 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 apologise 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 said in 2020. 

Following this statement, Javed Akhtar filed a complaint, claiming Ranaut had made defamatory statements against him in the TV interview, which allegedly damaged his reputation. He told the court whatever Kangana had said in the interview was a lie.  

Kangana later filed a counter-complaint in the same court against Akhtar for alleged “extortion and criminal intimidation". Ranaut, in her complaint, claimed that after her dispute with a co-star, Akhtar had called her and her sister Rangoli Chandel to his house with “malafide intentions and ulterior motives and then criminally intimidated and threatened" her.