Sit with Hitlist: Farhan from the madding crowd

Takes a village to raise a star, Bollywood’s top polymath looks at key people through his 20-year journey

Back when Farhan Akhtar was a kid, a common visitor to his home used to be family friend, ace photographer, late Gautam Rajadhyaksha. Gautam was once assigned a photo-shoot for a pressure cooker ad, in which a child is supposed to look excitedly at the contents of a cooker — “Like, this is the best matar pulav I have eaten in my life; that expression!” 

Gautam asked Farhan’s mother, Honey Irani (a child actor once herself), if her little boy could pose for the ad. She agreed, and he did. For the longest, Farhan’s face had remained associated with the pressure cooker. “I’m talking about the ’80s,” he recalls. This is, in fact, the first story he also recalled to his childhood friend and later his producer-partner, Ritesh Sidhwani, when he first learnt about Ritesh’s family business.

“You mean you shot an ad for Marlex?” Ritesh asked, naming the kitchen appliance company his father owned, and the son worked in as well. “Oh, no,” said Farhan: “It was for your biggest rival, Hawkins. We were rivals when we were kids. Now, the two opposing giants of the kitchen corporate-world are collaborating together!”

Gautam hired the “naughty boy [Farhan], for his mischievous streak.” Which Farhan offers another evidence of, when I ask him how he got a scar under his right eye — the permanent identification mark on his passport; also something you’ll notice, especially, when he plays rugged parts in films like Lucknow Central (2017) or Toofaan (2021).

Farhan Akhtar with Ritesh Sidhwani

Is there an interesting story to that injury? Not really, he basically tripped and fell on the side of a table, when he was two. In school though, when kids would ask him about it, he’d look them in the eye and go, “Vietnam [accent on nam]!” Imagining a story in his head similar to how Sylvester Stallone’s character has his face slashed across, in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), his favourite film then!

Ritesh and Farhan went to Juhu’s Maneckji Cooper Education Trust School together. Which is also where, he reveals, the name of the production house they jointly founded, Excel, gets its name from: “There was a tossup between two names. The other day we were trying our hardest but couldn’t remember what that other [possible] name was. Besides its obvious meaning, Excel comes from our school motto: There is no excellence without labour.”

The two Maneckji boys — who later went to Jai Hind College, while Farhan dropped out — came together only to make the film Dil Chahta Hai (DCH, 2001), where Farhan was explicitly the writer-director, and Ritesh the producer. It’s during the film that Ritesh sat Farhan down and reasoned, “This is something you want to keep doing — then it really is important that you keep ownership of your work.”

“Maybe it is a business lesson that he had learnt from what he was doing earlier in life. Things have to belong to you — when you work so hard to create them,” Farhan agreed. By then, he had already spent few years learning production in Adi Pocha’s ad film company Script Shop. He obviously came from a film family — both his parents, Honey and Javed Akhtar, having been accomplished screenwriters. 

Entertainment editor Mayank Shekhar connects with the actor-singer-filmmaker, who was in Los Angeles at the time

“The closest Ritesh came to film was putting a VHS tape into his VCR player,” Farhan laughs, of the time his business partner quit his family firm, placed both his trust and money into a movie and an industry he had such little idea about.

And yet, he says, it is actually Ritesh’s continuous commitment to produce more and more movies that inspires him: “In our industry, Ritesh is known as a hard negotiator. That is what I hear about him. And in business, being a hard negotiator is a good thing. That’s what you are supposed to be.

People also respect him, because he is always there for them. Six years down the line [after DCH], Lakshya, Don and Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd — by 2006 in fact, producers would call him to find out how is it that we were doing certain things differently. Of course we were only doing [or putting systems in place] that is commonplace in, say, LA.”

Which is where Farhan, 47, is speaking to us over the screen from. It’s 8 am for him (8 pm for us). A morning person “for 15-16 years”, he’s usually up by 6 am, to hit the gym. The regimen works best for his health, “which is something you owe yourself, and your loved ones.” 

Of course he wasn’t always this way: “I was also a teenager once — not wanting to wake up before 11-12.” Which is the phase from Farhan’s life that his father Javed, he says, had probably modeled Hrithik Roshan’s character Karan Shergill on, in Lakshya (2004), that Farhan directed. 

After DCH, of course — a Hrithikmania type directorial debut, no less, when viewed in hindsight. Each year, social media explodes on August 10 to celebrate DCH Day, replete with heartfelt tributes and personal anecdotes.

Which is quite common for a lot of movies — even random ones, whose non-landmark anniversaries get celebrated every other day. Including messages like, “I wish this movie many years, a long life, 50 years, golden anniversary…” As if films were humans who could otherwise pass on with a heart attack.

The year 2021, nonetheless, was special for DCH, since it completed 20 years of relentlessly growing in public imagination. Ever since, Farhan himself has expanded his CV to become among the most hyphenated contemporary entertainers around — music composer, rock-star, movie star, screenwriter, director, lyricist, talk-show host… His introduction has become a cliché. 

The job description that doesn’t get enough attention still is of him as a consistent/prolific producer, for the longest — having established arguably the most successful creative-commercial collaborations in Bollywood, with Ritesh.  

Together they’ve produced 36 films and series, according to IMDb — generating what should be a healthy balance sheet, given smart calls like an early foray into OTT, with franchise shows like Inside Edge, Mirzapur, Made in Heaven. Even DCH, you realise, for all its creative acclaim, was one of the early Hindi films to be insured, for instance — opening titles credit United India Assurance Co (Ajit Gupta). 

“It just wasn’t possible or a film to qualify for insurance against calamities in India, until then — because of the way the film industry worked I guess,” Farhan says. DCH was a commercial success of course, but slightly eclipsed in the box office that year, because “on June 15, came Lagaan and Gadar. Gadar at that point had become the biggest hit that India had ever seen. Lagaan captured the nation’s imagination in a way that money can’t quantify.”

Everything about DCH, though, has become part of popular folklore since. Starting with the back shot of the three lead actors — Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna — on Chapora Fort in Goa, that is now called the Dil Chahta Hai Fort! Farhan had obviously been to the fort on his trips to Goa, “Just never had the kind of deep thought Akshaye’s character has, when they are staring out!” 

Likewise the line, “Hum cake khane ke liye kahin bhi jaa sakte hain” — that’s morphed into a line with multiplex context. “The story behind it is my absolute love for cake,” Farhan says. “I was a member of this club at Hotel Sea Rock that no longer exists, and which used to have the amazing Black Forest and Chocolate Truffle I could not afford. If somebody ever said, let’s go somewhere, it is my treat, it was the happiest day of my life! Later in college, the cake could become a free meal, free drink… So I just threw in that line for Sameer [Saif’s character].”

The first actors Farhan approached for DCH were in fact Preity Zinta and Akshaye Khanna — both of whom had come to his home to audition for Kya Kehna (2000), written by his mom Honey, and directed by Kundan Shah. 

“Akshaye was already there in the film. They were looking to cast a new girl, which is how Preity came in. She still hadn’t had her release of Dil Se, and all the other films that followed. I told her about what I was writing. She asked me to meet her when I was done. She became a massive star after, but kept her word.” Farhan had bonded with Akshaye on the sets of the latter’s acting debut, Pankuj Parasher’s Himalay Putra (1997), where Farhan worked as an assistant director. 

Pics/Instagram

The script Farhan would’ve probably shown Preity and Akshaye was then titled Hum Teen: “It sounded like an anti-allergy tablet to people!” He later called it Dil Chahta Hai, which in English would make sense as, “What your heart desires!” Except in Hindi, it sounds incomplete, or so his father Javed asked: “Dil kya chahta hai?”  Farhan was stuck, and asked lyricist dad to bail him out. To explain, Javed came up with the song words, “Dil chahta hai… Kabhi na beetein chamkeele din… Hum na rahein kabhi yaaron ke bin…”

While DCH arguably altered/reinvented the grammar of popular, metropolitan Hindi cinema altogether, in the beginning of the naughties — it is in fact Farhan who wholly reinvented himself by the turn of the decade. Branching out into full-time acting instead — scripting a completely different direction for his career, away from film direction itself. 

Was there a moment of epiphany? “I guess you see me as a full-time actor — because that is my only visible work out there. But I was very involved in producing a lot, writing dialogues for Game, Karthik Calling Karthik, Talaash, Dil Dhadakne Do, working with different directors, doing Rock On 2. There was a desire to creatively extend myself in different ways. I actually took a year and half away from acting itself—to write and record my album as [an independent] musician.” The album, Echoes, dropped in 2019.

Few artistes in Mumbai have freely allowed themselves as many avenues to max out their varied creative potential — whatever the eventual outcome, that effort itself could be a measure of personal success. Music, of course, happened naturally with Farhan’s acting debut on screen, Rock On (2008) — about a retired musician who goes back to stage. Farhan sang his songs, instead of simply lip-syncing.

Siblings Zoya and Farhan Akhtar have collaborated on Gully Boy (2019), Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), Talaash (2012), Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), Luck By Chance (2009), among others

The soundtrack was a smashing hit that’s stood the test of time: “I had always wanted to play the guitar, and been teaching myself from chord books and the Internet, age 16-17 onwards. But it was a private passion. In 2012, I tinkered with the idea of putting together a bunch of like-minded musicians to form a band [Farhan Live]. We’ve performed in over 100 cities since — colleges, festivals — twice to the US, Australia, Middle East...”

Farhan’s last release as a director was Don 2 (2011). Whatever your opinion on the film — there is surely a social media clamour for Part 3 — what’s undeniable is how it spawned a series of sequels in Bollywood. Just as his Don (2006) remake, before that, made old Bollywood remakes a thing to roll out every few months.

His most challenging move as an actor, until 2013, was to play the Olympian athlete in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag — a role he was even more determined to pull off convincingly, once he heard a journalist in Chandigarh ask him why a Punjabi wasn’t picked for the ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh’s part. After the film released Farhan went back to Chandigarh, especially reached out to the journalist — besides to gauge her response, to thank her for inadvertently “serving as great motivation”.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag similarly unleashed a series of sports biopics — a gift that Bollywood can’t stop giving, as we speak. What does he make of the formula? “Well, I guess if a car sells with a certain kind of artificial intelligence system now, then all cars will go get artificial intelligence. Because that is what people like. If there is a new flavour in the chips packet, suddenly everybody will have that same flavour. That is how life is, and how the world functions I guess.”

That commercial benchmark for films, of course, is the number of views/hits online; or box-office figures in case of theatrical releases. But creative failure can also be defined as mismatch between intentions, and outcomes. Have there been such instances he could talk about, with regard to his own works, as an actor, or filmmaker.

“Of course that’s happened. A lot of things, at times, do not translate from script to screen as effectively as you want. I don’t want to take names of those movies though. Because there are other people, who have their effort, talent and reputation attached. And it is not fair for me to speak about a work, as if it only belongs to me, or my learning from it.” 

For a more particular example, I bring up Rock On 2 (2016) — did that turn out the way he would’ve liked? “Well, the first Rock On obviously had a lot more people loving it, than not liking it. With Rock On 2, it was a bit more mixed, for sure. 

But we also got absolutely slapped in the face with demonetisation happening two days before the film released. The carpet got pulled from under our feet. People didn’t have enough money to buy food; they were queuing up outside ATMs. There were news stories on TV about how demonetisation had affected the film industry. It was sad for me to see posters of Rock On 2 on walls in these clips — not a crow in theatres. It was completely empty. Which is understandable.”

The great part of the original Rock On’s success, though, was it delivered for Farhan’s sister Zoya a saleable star right at home. Given that she’d been struggling to take off as a director for years, taking rounds of hero’s homes, unable to cast for the lead of Luck By Chance (2009) — a Bollywood movie, on Bollywood itself; a subject supposedly too close for superstars to sign up for.

Farhan suitably stepped in. Together as director-actor, they’ve collaborated on Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD, 2011) and Dil Dhadakne Do (DDD, 2015) since. Both those films co-produced by Farhan, where he has also written the dialogues. Giving one a sense that between the two, perhaps Farhan has the edge in dialogue writing. With Gully Boy behind her, Zoya can easily stake a claim for the most interesting voice in current Hindi mainstream. 

Age wise, the siblings are a year apart. Zoya was also the casting director on DCH. How are they different as directors, I ask Farhan, who takes a second to think this through, and eventually boils it down to how they are different as personality types as well. 

“She is more open about her feelings — more of a people’s person than I am — better at communicating her thoughts. Because she speaks with a lot of clarity. I tend to keep things more inside, which can be unnerving sometimes — an actor or technician could feel anxious, about why am I not saying what I feel? So, there is that.” 

This seems like an accurate assessment, even when you compare Zoya to Farhan from an edition of this series Sit with Hitlist on YouTube. While Farhan does hold a more public job — facing the camera, surrounded by selfie-hunters, massive audiences before a concert stage — it is Zoya who comes across as more naturally the extrovert!

She develops screenplays with her long-time writing partner, Reema Kagti. But for the dialogue draft of DDD, that required a lot of back-and-forth with Zoya for the number of voices/characters involved, Farhan says, he’s worked on all scripts alone, by himself. Which would be true for song writing, an equally solitary job, as well.

Farhan was last seen on screen with a dramatic physical transformation, playing a boxer in the film Toofaan (2021). He enters the ring as director next — first time, behind the camera since a decade. 

With Jee Le Zara, starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif, slated to open in 2022. Which is also the first time he’ll be co-writing a screenplay, with Reema and Zoya: “For me this is actually going to be a new experience. Working on screenplay, maybe not dialogue so much, but at least on screenplay, with two other writers, who are so hands-on.”

Where the siblings are likely to meet on the same page, I’m guessing, are inevitably some inside jokes. As they did with the popular refrain, “Bwoy”, in ZNMD. That caricature of a school teacher in the decade’s breeziest Bollywood film was based on their common PT instructor at Maneckji Cooper — one, Mr Dubey, who is no more.

Mr Dubey’s daughter, who saw the film, instantly got the reference and called up Farhan to convey how glad she felt that he and Zoya remembered her father fondly still: “All these things from those years leave such great impressions on our minds, isn’t it?”

Akhtar siblings grew up in the sea-facing Bandstand in Bandra, which is where I’m hosting this conversation from, I tell Farhan. It’s a few blocks away from his family home, that Farhan intends to shift back into, once he returns from LA. On the other end of the same street is Galaxy apartments, where Salman Khan grew up, and still lives. Both Salman and Farhan, respectively, being sons of Salim-Javed, the hyphenated, greatest blockbuster writers of ’70s Bollywood.

Javed had come to Bombay to become a film director. Salim Khan had acted in many films — realised he wasn’t getting too far, and so stepped back to pursue screenwriting instead. Both came full circle with their kids — Farhan turning director, and Salman a superstar.

“I think we are making it too melodramatic [with the observation],” Farhan cautions: “In the ’90s, my father was so busy writing songs, working with everyone — I think in every second film or third film, the songs were written by him. I thought this is what he always wanted to do.  It was when we were doing Lakshya, and he was writing it, that at one point he spoke about having wanted to direct. And that this is going to be a very challenging film, etc. I was like, okay — I didn’t know you wanted to direct! That is when I found out — at 29!’

Salim-Javed’s sons could not have turned out more differently still. If anything Salman stands for larger than life, ganjee-boots mardaangi/masculinity—about never going back on a commitment. Let alone choice in dialogue, script or films, even in life outside cinema, Farhan actively runs an NGO tackling toxic masculinity itself. 

What explains two lifelong neighbours, with fathers who went by a common name for years, turning out such polar opposites? Farhan says, “The interesting part of your question, really, is that our creative paths are different, but we do come from the same pool. Which is a pool that Salim uncle and my father kind of created. That is the world we grew up in, and those are the films we grew up on, and knew. But why that happens, or how that happens? I don’t know. I guess you are a product of your environment in some ways. He [Salman] is massively successful. I don’t think we should question his choices at all!” Mic drop.

Watch the complete interview below:

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