Farhan Akhtar
Birthday:
9 January 1974, Mumbai, India
Height:
175 cm
Writer Javed Akhtar's and Honey Irani's son 'Farhan Akhtar' is an extremely talented and creative and young director and has made a place for himself in very little time.He entered Bollywood at the age of 17, assisting directors and cinematographers. He dropped out of college and did various jobs like working for a TV production...
Show more »
Writer Javed Akhtar's and Honey Irani's son 'Farhan Akhtar' is an extremely talented and creative and young director and has made a place for himself in very little time.He entered Bollywood at the age of 17, assisting directors and cinematographers. He dropped out of college and did various jobs like working for a TV production house and setting up his own production house, Excel Entertainment with childhood friend Ritesh Sidhwani.Farhan made his directorial debut in Hindi cinema with the 2001 hit, Dil Chahta Hai (2001), which starred Aamir Khan. It was a big success, especially popular among the younger generation. Many rate it as one of the greatest movies ever made in Bollywood. The movie earned quite a few nominations for different awards, and won the Filmfare best screenplay award. His next project was Lakshya (2004) with Hrithik Roshan, which was released in 2004. Though the movie did not do as well at the box office, it won him much critical acclaim. The script of the movie was written by his father Javed Akhtar.He then directed a remake of the 1978 cult classic Amitabh Bachchan film, Don (1978) called Don (2006) which starred Shah Rukh Khan in the title role. The film released on 20 October 2006 and was a huge success at the box office. He produced the film Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007) which also did well at the box office.Then came Rock On!! (2008), in which he starred and produced. The film was a phenomenon and became an instant cult film just like Dil Chahta Hai (2001). And Farhan has a lot to do with its success. He produced it, wrote the dialogues for it, acted in it and learned how to sing the super hit songs. His husky voice seems perfect for Indian rock music. The performance of Farhan in the movie was a revelation. And a method actor of his own unique style was born. Farhan has won applauds from his viewers for his acting debut and all loved the sound of his voice on songs like 'Rock On' and 'Tum Ho Toh'. As part of promotions for Rock On!! (2008), Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal, Luke Kenny and Purab Kohli (the members of the Rock On!! (2008) cast and the fictitious band 'Magik' depicted in the movie) has toured the country making crowds groove to their rocking and magical music.He was the host of Oye! It's Friday! (2008) which is a celebrity talk show with a tinge of comedy.On the personal front, Farhan is married to Adhuna Bhabani Akhtar and they have two daughters: Shakya and Akira. They live in Bandra Bandstand, Mumbai. He is good friends with the Rock On!! (2008) cast and Shah Rukh Khan.Recently another film got released featuring Farhan as an actor. It is his sister Zoya Akhtar's directorial debut Luck by Chance (2009) in which he plays a struggling actor. The film did fairly good at the box office, but did not turn out to be a super hit, although it received some great remarks in its various reviews.He will soon be seen as an actor once again in Vijay Lalwani's thriller Karthik Calling Karthik (2010) co-starring with the actress Deepika Padukone. After that he will be returning to direction with Don 2 (2011) which he is aiming to be a far more bigger and better action movie with a huge budget than its predecessor Don (2006) and is set to release in the later half of the year 2010. Show less «
[on his suddenly isolating from the outer world during the shooting of Karthik Calling Karthik (2010) - June (2009)] It was the nature of th...Show more »
[on his suddenly isolating from the outer world during the shooting of Karthik Calling Karthik (2010) - June (2009)] It was the nature of the character I was playing. He's a guy lost in his world. So I was making an effort to isolate myself. Lately I've just been switching off from the world for the sake of my character. If you want to call it method acting, so be it. Show less «
[(February 2009) On the title sequence of his sister's film Luck by Chance (2009), which presents very humanely the crew working behind the ...Show more »
[(February 2009) On the title sequence of his sister's film Luck by Chance (2009), which presents very humanely the crew working behind the scenes in films] At the end of the day when you are working, that's the truth of it. I mean glamour is something that comes from adulation by people who idolize their stars from watching their movies. That adds to glamour. But when you are working, today especially, unlike before in 1994 when I was an assistant, there was a lot more hierarchal kind of a system, you couldn't really go upto the lead actor and start talking to them, but now everyone treats each other with a lot more respect, they understand that someone is putting on manual labour. It's not 'creative' labour though but at the end of the day he is working really hard to make sure your film looks a certain way. We wanted that to put this in a bit of focus in this film. Show less «
[(February 2009) On why his film Luck by Chance (2009) was found too slow paced by viewers] It's a different pace, I agree. All films will h...Show more »
[(February 2009) On why his film Luck by Chance (2009) was found too slow paced by viewers] It's a different pace, I agree. All films will have a different pace. It's important for the audience to view a movie as it is meant to be. You can't go in to a movie with a pre-conceived notion that I want to go in and have fun or something. You have to understand what a film is. Life, 'as' a film, unfolds at a different pace depending on different kind of stories. The movie is a lot about introspection. It's dealing a lot with what's going on within people's lives, within their characters. And there are so many characters, it's not a linear story with one person being followed through and through so it will take a little bit of time to build up. Because in the first half you are catching up with so many different characters, 'establishing their lives', so it may seem a little scattered which at times may be a little exhausting to watch but that's the nature of the story and you can't escape that. Show less «
[February 2009] I personally feel that since we (the Indian audience) are used to watching a certain kind of entertainment (the typical trad...Show more »
[February 2009] I personally feel that since we (the Indian audience) are used to watching a certain kind of entertainment (the typical traditional bollywood movie) it'll take time for everybody to move on from expecting a routine typical Indian movie and accept a different kind of a movie like say Rock On!! (2008) or A Wednesday (2008). It will take a while for such movies to maybe attain a huge blockbuster status but, slowly but surely, people will realize that okay we need to apply ourselves to watching a movie. Show less «
[Feb. 2009 - on being asked if he'll act some time in a movie directed by himself] No. I don't intend on directing myself in a movie. At lea...Show more »
[Feb. 2009 - on being asked if he'll act some time in a movie directed by himself] No. I don't intend on directing myself in a movie. At least not in a near future. Show less «
[Spoken in his 30th Jan 2009 Luck by Chance (2009) special episode of Oye! It's Friday! (2008), when asked, why all of his movies have some ...Show more »
[Spoken in his 30th Jan 2009 Luck by Chance (2009) special episode of Oye! It's Friday! (2008), when asked, why all of his movies have some portions shot in Goa, India] Yeah that's true. I don't know what the connection is but as friends we all used to make a lot of trips there and then there's a totally free sort of atmosphere there, you can think very clearly. And whenever I go to Goa, even now, I feel that the weight, that is on my shoulders, is gone. I somehow feel that I'm in another world and I don't have any responsibilities there and so I can just be whoever I want to be without thinking about what has to come. And probably just to re-live that atmosphere and to enjoy that, I guess Goa is such an integral part of our (i.e. Excel Entertainment, his production company set up along with friend Ritesh Sidhwani) creative process. Show less «
[December 2011 - Q: "Who is Farhan the actor's favourite actor?"] I do enjoy watching Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan, and Ajay Devgan purely for...Show more »
[December 2011 - Q: "Who is Farhan the actor's favourite actor?"] I do enjoy watching Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan, and Ajay Devgan purely for the fact that when you see their body of work, and the body of work of most other actors, you notice that these guys bring something new to the table by way of a story or character. Show less «
[December 2011] I would hate to watch the same kind of performance over and over again. An actor must keep challenging himself if he wishes ...Show more »
[December 2011] I would hate to watch the same kind of performance over and over again. An actor must keep challenging himself if he wishes to have a really long innings. Even as a filmmaker, I believe in mixing genres. A film must be entertaining. When I say entertaining, I don't mean that you should only make people laugh. You can enthrall them with drama or comedy. There should be a sense of variety in storytelling and performance. Show less «
Farhan Akhtar's Photos
