Farhan Akhtar

Biography

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.