Javed Akhtar says he is glad his filmmaker children, Zoya and Farhan, have developed creative voices distinct from his own. In a 2023 interview excerpt, he points to Dil Chahta Hai and Luck By Chance as examples, while describing their work and artistic standards in his own terms.
What did Javed Akhtar say about Zoya and Farhan?
Akhtar’s remark appears in a Scroll.in article published on February 11, 2023, and presented as an excerpt from a translated biography. Asked how he viewed his children’s success both as a father and as someone who understands cinema, he replied: “But the other thing that pleases me very much is that they have a voice of their own; they are not an echo.”
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He said that children who make films can imitate a parent’s style, but he did not see that in Zoya or Farhan. He named Farhan’s Dil Chahta Hai and Zoya’s debut, Luck By Chance, as examples of their individuality. Akhtar described Zoya’s films as lacking his “shadow” and said both siblings had their own voice and identity. These are his personal assessments, not an independent measure of their artistic influence.
What else did he say about their work?
Akhtar also praised Zoya’s writing and her portrayals of characters, which he described as layered and empathetic. More broadly, he said he believed both siblings had maintained a standard in their work rather than compromising for success. The judgments about quality and artistic standards belong to Akhtar.
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Asked whether he had a message for his children, he said he did not think they needed one. He called them better human beings than himself and said he learns from them.
Had Akhtar said something similar before?
Yes. In a separate IANS interview reported by The Indian Express on November 10, 2016, Akhtar said he was proud that his children were “not the echoes of their parents” and described their work as different from his. That earlier remark expresses a similar idea, but the singular phrase “they are not an echo” comes from the 2023 excerpt.
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What is known about the biography excerpt?
Scroll.in described its article as an excerpt from a new translated biography and noted that it included anecdotes, rare photographs, reproduced lectures and interviews. The article does not name the book or establish its publisher. Its image credit to Manjul Publishing is not confirmation that Manjul published the biography.
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