With Don 3’s survival in question, Honey Irani says Farhan Akhtar taking time to get over 120 Bahadur failure: ‘It is his personal loss’

Farhan Akhtar's mother and writer Honey Irani spoke about how the actor-director is coping with the failure of his last film 120 Bahadur. 'So much money, people and hard work went into it,' she said.

3 min readChennaiUpdated: Feb 3, 2026 02:33 PM IST

Ranveer Singh and Farhan Akhtar were set to work together on Don 3.

Farhan Akhtar’s last film as an actor, 120 Bahadur, failed to find success at the box office despite receiving good reviews. In a recent interaction, his mother and writer Honey Irani spoke about how the actor-director is coping with the failure and why it might take him time to get over it.

Speaking to Vickey Lalwani, she said, “We have all gone through it. He and Zoya both have gone through it. Of course, it is your personal loss because you have worked so hard on it and so many people are involved with the film and so much money is involved with the film. And when that film doesn’t work, it pains a lot. But I have always told them to never take success to their head and failures to their heart. This is a part of life. Sometimes those films work which you didn’t expect to work and sometimes even good films don’t work. Kaagaz Ke Phool was a masterpiece, but it did not work. These things happen in life. One has to analyse it.” She added, “It will take Farhan time to get over it, and to get over it, you have to move on to the next thing. But it will take time.”

When asked who is more sensitive towards failure and tricky situations—Farhan or Zoya—she responded, “We all are. We have our own way of dealing with it, including Javed Sahib and Shabana. If you are an artist, you will be sensitive, and who likes failure?”

ALSO READ: Javed Akhtar changed after success, drinking became a problem, says first wife Honey Irani

Meanwhile, reports of Ranveer Singh exiting Farhan Akhtar’s Don 3 are rife. After Shah Rukh Khan starred in the first two films of the franchise, Farhan had announced Ranveer as the new face of the iconic character in Don 3. However, it is rumoured that the actor exited the project after the success of Dhurandhar. As per Mid-Day, the reasons behind Ranveer’s exit was his fee hike following success of Dhurandhar, and a scheduling conflict. The actor is reportedly still has portions of Dhurandhar 2, which is set to release on March 19. Reports also suggest that the filmmaker unfollowed Ranveer on Instagram, signalling that all is not well between the two.

It is also said that after this setback, Farhan is now focusing on his long-awaited project Jee Le Zaraa. Earlier, Priyanka Chopra, Alia Bhatt and Kareena Kaif were announced as the leads of the film. However, the film faced delays due to the busy schedules of the three actresses. The filmmaker, however, hasn’t commented on the speculations yet.

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