48 Facts About Farhan Akhtar

Farhan Akhtar was born on 9 January 1974 and is an Indian actor, filmmaker and singer who works in Hindi films.

Farhan Akhtar made his directorial debut with the coming-of-age film Dil Chahta Hai, receiving critical acclaim for portraying realistic modern Indian youth, and winning the National Award for Best Hindi Film and Filmfare Awards for Best Film and Best Screenplay.

Farhan Akhtar then directed the war film Lakshya, the action thriller Don and its sequel Don 2.

Farhan Akhtar starred in, wrote the dialogues for, and produced the buddy-road film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, which won him Filmfare Awards for Best Film, Best Supporting Actor and Best Dialogue.

Farhan Akhtar then portrayed athlete Milkha Singh in the biopic Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, winning the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.

Farhan Akhtar was born in Mumbai, the second child of screenwriters Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani.

Farhan Akhtar was very young when his parents divorced; his father married actress Shabana Azmi in 1984.

Farhan Akhtar's mother retained the family home in Bandra Bandstand and raised her children there.

Farhan Akhtar studied at Maneckji Cooper School in Mumbai and then pursued a law degree at HR College, in Mumbai.

Farhan Akhtar's father, a Muslim by birth and culture, is a socialist and has described himself as an atheist; Farhan Akhtar's mother, born into an Irani Zoroastrian family in India, is indifferent to religion, and was content to let her children grow up with no religion.

On his mother's side, Farhan Akhtar is the nephew of the child actress Daisy Irani and the first cousin of choreographer Farah Khan and Sajid Khan.

Farhan Akhtar married Adhuna Bhabani in 2000, after being in a relationship with her for 3 years.

Farhan Akhtar worked as an apprentice in film distribution and direction for Yash Chopra's Lamhe when he was 17 years old and later moved to an advertisement production house named "Script Shop" to spend an approximate 3 years there.

Farhan Akhtar assisted Pankaj Parashar as a director in Himalay Putra before launching himself into direction and writing.

Farhan Akhtar made his writing and directorial debut with the critically acclaimed coming-of-age comedy-drama Dil Chahta Hai, produced by Excel Entertainment, a production company he established along with Ritesh Sidhwani in 1999.

Farhan Akhtar had written the script based on his trips to Goa and New York City, as well as a narration of a story outline by a friend of his, Kassim Jagmagia, who would eventually become a co-producer at Excel Entertainment in the future.

Farhan Akhtar had to research the army before writing the script and directing the venture.

The theme of the film, as stated by Farhan Akhtar, was about "finding oneself".

Farhan Akhtar believed that if the same characters and situation were set elsewhere, the main core of the story would remain the same as the film was not about war, as it had been reported.

Meanwhile, Farhan Akhtar wrote the English lyrics of Gurinder Chadha's Hollywood film Bride and Prejudice, along with his sister, Zoya Farhan Akhtar, after being recommended by his father.

In 2006, Farhan Akhtar directed, produced and wrote the screenplay of Don starring Shah Rukh Khan in the title role alongside Priyanka Chopra, a remake of Don, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Zeenat Aman.

Farhan Akhtar was supposed to make his acting debut with the film, but he had to be replaced by Abhay Deol as he was involved with Don.

Later that year, Farhan Akhtar wrote, produced and directed Don 2, a sequel to his previous venture Don.

In 2012, Farhan Akhtar produced and wrote the script of the neo-noir thriller Talaash: The Answer Lies Within.

Farhan Akhtar played the role of Aditya, the lead singer of the rock band "Magik".

Rahman's album Blue, Farhan Akhtar acted in, and produced his sister Zoya's directorial and written debut Luck By Chance, alongside Konkona Sen Sharma in the lead role.

Farhan Akhtar was cast in the film after being deemed as a "perfect choice" for it.

Farhan Akhtar manages to remain sympathetic even while wreaking romantic havoc.

Farhan Akhtar acted in, and produced his next film Karthik Calling Karthik, a psychological thriller directed by Vijay Lalwani.

Farhan Akhtar played Karthik, an introvert, paired opposite Deepika Padukone for the first time.

Farhan Akhtar produced and appeared as one of the three leads in his sister, Zoya Farhan Akhtar's coming-of-age film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara along with Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol, Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin.

Farhan Akhtar was credited as the scriptwriter for the film.

Farhan Akhtar was the first actor to be cast in the film, and described his role as a "fun character" and a "guy who for the longest time takes nothing seriously".

Farhan Akhtar's performance received widespread critical acclaim, with Shaikh Ayaz of Rediff.

Farhan Akhtar's performance received critical acclaim and earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.

Farhan Akhtar had to prepare his looks to depict a 17-year-old army recruit and endure an on-the-spot preparation at an army cantonment.

In 2014, Farhan Akhtar starred alongside Vidya Balan in the romantic comedy Shaadi Ke Side Effects directed by Saket Chaudhary and produced by Pritish Nandy.

In 2015, Farhan Akhtar starred in his sister Zoya Farhan Akhtar's Dil Dhadakne Do, an ensemble family comedy-drama starring Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma.

In 2016, Farhan Akhtar played the lead role of an Anti-Terrorism Squad officer in Bejoy Nambiar's Wazir.

Farhan Akhtar reprised his role of Aditya Shroff, the lead singer of his band.

In 2017, Farhan Akhtar essayed the role of a Dawood Ibrahim-alike mafia don Maqsood in Daddy, co-starring Arjun Rampal.

Farhan Akhtar received training for boxing for his next release Toofan, a sports drama, directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, which premiered on 21 May 2021 on Amazon Prime Video.

Farhan Akhtar appeared as one of the nine judges in the beauty pageant Femina Miss India.

Farhan Akhtar was the judge on the first season of the dance-reality show Nach Baliye.

Farhan Akhtar has endorsed several brands as a part of his career, especially after the release of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

Farhan Akhtar is the board member of Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image.

Farhan Akhtar has been the Regional UN Women Ambassador for South Asia since 2016.

In 2023, Farhan Akhtar received the Kamla Bhasin Award for his efforts in promoting gender equality in South Asia.