Talking about Raj Thackeray’s imposition on the ban on working with Pakistani actors and the aftermath, Akhtar told Indian Express, “It’s not even the government telling you what you should be doing and not doing. So who are you listening to? You are listening to the people who are threatening you with violence.”

“Now, when you have the threat of violence, it’s not only about you. You have kids at home, you have a family. Why do you want to subject them to that? At the end of the day, it’s really unfortunate that this is the state of affairs,” he said. 

Akhtar said it was unfair to target the entertainment industry and said political parties were free to pass a law that was uniform and held everyone to the same standard. He said the film industry was being targeted because they were easy targets. 

Veteran actor Shabana Azmi had also questioned and ridiculed the Maharashtra Chief Minister for brokering the deal.