The Farhan and Zoya Akhtar show!

Farhan: I think it’s a combination of all three. Zoya probably knows more about my life at any point of time than my mom and dad,so I share a deeper level of intimacy with her.

Zoya: We are siblings who get along really well. I can’t imagine my life without Farhan.

Farhan: You see,I have that effect on people!

Zoya: But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have fights. We both have strong opinions and we voice them.

Farhan: We are confidants,but we don’t have discussions about life at 3 am. The only time Zoya will wake me up at 3 am is if there is a rat in her room. Right?

Zoya: (shudders) Yes. Don’t like rats.

Your father,Javed Akhtar,told me that as children,Zoya was the serious,conscientious one while Farhan was the drifter. Would you agree?

Zoya: Dad says so because I was always working. I had a plan and got on to doing what I wanted to at an early age.

Farhan: It wasn’t that I didn’t study. It’s just that I didn’t graduate. But I did spend my days watching movies when Zoya was working on film sets.

Zoya: But I was much wilder than Farhan. I partied more.

Farhan: I have a serious issue with nightclubs in this country. Even underage women can get into nightclubs,they can go stag,they have all these ladies-only nights and nobody stops them.

Zoya: That’s because we don’t get drunk and jump on men!

Farhan: Whatever. I just want you to know that I was treated badly by society.

Zoya: Yes,he was discriminated against.

Farhan: (laughs) That’s why I decided to make guy films.

Zoya: Yeah,Farhan’s movies are all about male angst.

What was your worst fight growing up?

Farhan: We have had many fights,difficult to pick out just one. But remember those days when you used to watch The Bold And The Beautiful?

Zoya: (laughs) Oh yes,we used to fight every day on that one!

While Zoya was lusting for Ridge Forrester,what kind of films were you watching?

Farhan: All the classics! Like Die Hard. Bruce Willis was quite a man.

Zoya: He still is. He’s awesome. When he’s on screen,you believe he can save the world.

What are your earliest cinema memories?

Farhan: I remember watching Hindi films,most of them written by Dad and Salim (Khan) uncle. Also the films written by Daisy (Irani) aunty’s husband,KK Shukla,like Amar Akbar Anthony,Naseeb,Coolie,etc. The earliest English films I remember watching were The Sound of Music and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. My mom’s brother used to take me on his bike to Sterling cinema to watch war epics like Battle of the Bulge. I distinctly remember the screening of Bombay to Goa.

Zoya: Even I remember that screening. My earliest memories are about this big projector that my mom had. We used to get the film prints and watch them at home. We were also members of The Playmate Club at Hotel Sea Rock. Every Sunday,they used to screen films at the club and I remember watching Laurel & Hardy films. As a child,it was always the spectacle of watching a film on the projector that I was enamoured by. When I saw The Godfather,I did not understand a word of the film but I sat there riveted,soaking in the experience.

So when did you get the idea of making movies?

farhan: Zoya showed a lot of interest in movies from a young age. We always knew that she’d do something related to films. I enjoyed watching movies. But my first real job was when I started writing Dil Chahta Hai and that happened because I was given an ultimatum by my mom that she’d throw me out of the house if I didn’t do something with my life.

Zoya: Yeah,mom was very worried that Farhan would spend his life watching films.

Farhan: Imagine,I could have been the Harsha Bhogle of movies but my mom stopped me!

Zoya: I knew I’d be making films but I didn’t know if Hindi films were my calling. You see,when I was at St Xavier’s College in 1988,Hindi movies were plain awful. I hated them. I got a job as a copywriter in an advertising agency. Then I saw Salaam Bombay and I was blown away. I realised that one could make that kind of a film too. I went to Mira Nair and started working with her.

Farhan: Yes,the ’80s were a dodgy phase,when there was a lack of young blood. The old guard was not willing to relinquish their hold. Films had become a family business,like some incestuous industry.

Zoya: Completely! The formula films were at the fore and I didn’t know where I fit in.

Farhan: But it wasn’t all that bad.

There were some good films,like Arjun,for example.

Zoya: I agree but they were rare. That didn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy Betaab or Mr India but those films didn’t resonate with me the way Salaam Bombay did.

Farhan: I think for me,it was Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. I remember feeling that finally someone had made a movie for my generation.

Any cinema fights while growing up?

Farhan: She used to fight with Aditya Chopra while Uday and I would sit around and laugh.

Zoya: But I can’t believe you liked Iron Man.

Farhan: Come on,Iron Man,the first one is such a kickass film. She just doesn’t agree.

Zoya: I hated it. I love Robert Downey Jr but I hated that movie.

Who are your respective cinema gods?

Zoya: I love Stanley Kubrick. He’s a genius. He’s the only director who has adapted from strange books and translated them so beautifully on screen that I always wonder what kind of a mind he had.

Farhan: You also like Martin Scorsese,right?

Zoya: I adore Scorsese. I love David Fincher and Christopher Nolan too.

Farhan: Scorsese for me too. Also Ridley Scott,Woody Allen,Billy Wilder,Alfred Hitchcock.

Both of you haven’t named anyone from India.

Farhan: There is no denying that there is a good tradition of storytelling in India too.

Zoya: Who do you mean?

Farhan: Guru Dutt. He’s extremely relevant even today. Even Bimal Roy,Raj Kapoor and Vijay Anand. I think Vijay Anand invented the polish in Hindi films.

Zoya: That era was truly golden. Those guys made films with such adult stories. How did people watch grown-up films with no comedy track then? Today,it’s so all over the place.

Farhan: Why? There was Johnny Walker then too. He was a part of Guru Dutt’s films.

Zoya: But he was a part of the narrative.

He wasn’t added as a filler to get people laughing.

Which is the most perfect Hindi film for both of you?

Zoya: Sholay. Ramesh Sippy will always be top of the pops for me because of Sholay.

Farhan: Sholay? Really?

Zoya: You don’t think so?

Farhan: It’s thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve seen it 50 times but I don’t know if it was perfect.

Zoya: Oh come on,it’s not at all dated. That’s the power of Sholay.

Farhan: As a screenplay,I think Deewar is a much stronger film. If I had a choice to see a film right now between Deewar and Sholay,I’d choose Deewar.

Zoya: Really? Sholay moves me more. There was so much unsaid in the film.

Farhan: (laughs) What was unsaid Zoya? Jai and Veeru are sitting on each other’s shoulders and singing Yeh dosti hum nahi todenge. What more is left to say?

Zoya: (laughs) I mean,Sholay was better directed.

Farhan: Well,I prefer Deewar as a story.

Zoya,do you prefer Farhan as an actor,director or as a writer?

All three. I never had any doubts that he was talented. But yes,he has impressed me with his discipline.

Farhan,does the director in you come to the fore when your sister is directing you?

Farhan: I don’t think it’s just me. Actors always have a take on a scene. If I feel something about a scene,I have a discussion with her.

Zoya: When you decide to work with actors who are good at their job,then you prepare yourself that they will come with ideas. Good actors don’t just ask you what they should do,they discuss what they think they can do,they ask the director about the mood that he/she wants to create and then they pitch their performance through it. Farhan required the least amount of direction. That’s because he has also written the dialogues of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. So he knows the script thoroughly.

Have you ever disagreed on the way a scene was directed?

Zoya: Yes,the last scene between Koko (Konkona Sen Sharma) and Farhan in Luck By Chance. He wanted to walk out at the end of the scene but I wanted them to stay like that. I thought making them stay there in the moment was sadder.

Zoya,which is your favourite Farhan Akhtar film: Dil Chahta Hai,Lakshya or Don?

I like Dil Chahta Hai and Lakshya more because I worked on them. Dil Chahta Hai will always be special,since it was his first.

Can you analyse each other’s strengths as a director?

Farhan: She has a very strong writing voice,her characters are very well-rounded and she’s very clear with her instructions to the crew as well as the actors.

Zoya: Farhan is very clear with his crew and he edits in his head. He shoots what he wants,secure in the knowledge that the scene will turn out exactly as he sees it in his head. I don’t think like that. Most often than not,I want to get the mood and the flow of the scene right. I can’t think that I’ll go from a close-up of Katrina to Hrithik’s eyes. I know the key scenes but on some scenes I like the option of sitting on the edit and figuring it out. Farhan sees the film in its entirety in his head to a point where it’s creepy.

Who took a chance on whom during Luck By Chance? Farhan,did you bail out Zoya as a producer and actor?

Zoya: He took a chance on me as a producer. It’s the biggest chance he has taken till date.

Farhan: Zoya lived with Luck By Chance for seven years. For six of those years,I had no intention of acting in it.

Zoya: Actually,Reema (Kagti) wanted to cast him in Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd. She asked me to check him out. Then I got to see Anand Surapur’s (yet-to-be-released) The Fakir of Venice,which was the first film Farhan acted in. I really liked what I saw,so I asked him if he’d act.

Farhan: It didn’t take me very long to say yes. We had been persevering to make the film and I wanted to see it being made.

Between mom,Honey Irani,and dad,Javed Akhtar,who is your sharpest critic?

Farhan: I think mom. Dad will see the film. He’ll think it over,weigh his words and the next day tell us what he thought.

Zoya: But our mom reacts emotionally. On the spot.

Farhan: She’ll shout out during the screening,“It\’s too long”.

Zoya: She’ll be like,“Stop pakaoing me.”

Farhan: She starts educating us there and then. “Remove the scene,” she’ll thunder in front of everyone. It’s quite an experience to get her reaction.

Zoya: But both of them are pretty straight with us. Dad is just more controlled.

What does Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara mean to both of you?

Farhan: When Zoya was writing it,she told me that she was writing the character keeping me in mind. In terms of personality,it\’s a character closest to the real me. He’s very funny yet has his issues. I enjoyed the opportunity to try out physical comedy.

Zoya: For me,thematically the film is about seizing the day. It’s also a friendship story.

Comparisons with Dil Chahta Hai are inevitable. Your thoughts?

Zoya: The only similarity is that Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is also about three friends but otherwise it’s a completely different story. That said,Dil Chahta Hai is a great recall value to hold on to. If anything about my film reminds people about it,it’s a plus.

Farhan: It’s been 10 years since Dil Chahta Hai and I can’t believe that people still talk about it. It was a turning point of my life and I’m very proud of it,but mentally I’ve moved on. I’m looking at telling fresher stories.