Javed Akhtar says he and son Farhan have to wait 4-5 days to fix an appointment to see each other: ‘Is he jobless or what?’

Javed Akhtar said that sometimes, it takes him and son Farhan Akhtar 3-5 days to arrange a meeting with each other.

New Delhi | Updated: January 9, 2025 06:37 PM IST

3 min read

Javed Akhtar said that he and son Farhan Akhtar have to wait days before they can fix an appointment to see each other. (Photo: Farhan Akhtar/Instagram)

Javed Akhtar has always been candid with his thoughts and opinions and recently, when the veteran writer was asked about his take on the joint family system, he shared that like everything else, this also has its pros and cons. Javed further elaborated that his own children live separately and said that sometimes, it takes them 4-5 days to arrange a meeting with father and son Farhan Akhtar.

The conversation held in the US was shared on Zaidi Channel on YouTube as Javed spoke about his family. “I have a very small family. I just have one son and one daughter, and me and Shabana (wife). It’s just me and Shabana who stay together. My daughter has a separate home, and my son has a separate home,” he said. Javed’s daughter Zoya Akhtar is a successful filmmaker and son Farhan Akhtar is an actor, filmmaker and musician.

Javed recalled that during his childhood, people would find it absurd that those staying in the US or England have to call their relatives before visiting them. “When we were little, we would say that in the US or England, even relatives call each other before they go over to someone’s house to meet. And other people would be shocked when they heard this. Now we are living that life and it feels perfectly fine,” he said with a laugh.

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Javed then shared that during this trip, many people asked him why he hadn’t brought Farhan along. “When I came here, some people asked me ‘You didn’t get Farhan along with you?’ Is he jobless or what? I have to call him before seeing him, or he calls me to ask when we can meet. Usually, we fix an appointment that’s after 3-5 days. This is bound to happen. Such is life,” he said.

The veteran writer said that this was perfectly fine as “being too dominant on your children is a little unnatural.” “Look at animals, they bring up their kids with so much love, they sometimes die for their kids, but as soon as the kid grows up, they leave them. It’s just us humans who like to dictate to their 40 year old children about what is right and wrong. It’s extremely unnatural,” he said.

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