Javed Akhtar recently opened up on his working relationship with his children, Zoya Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar. The veteran writer talked up on how his talks are unrelated to his children.
Javed told Sapan Verma that Farhan and Zoya often find his lines ‘outdated’ and ‘traditional.’ When asked about Farhan and Zoya’s reactions to his lines, the lyricist-writer remarked, “It’s very easy for them to be my boss. Other people might hesitate to speak freely because I am a senior and veteran, but my kids have no consideration, particularly Zoya. Farhan doesn’t fight, he simply rejects my lines, but Zoya engages in fights with me. Their first language is English; they dream in English. Mine, however, is Urdu or Hindustani. So, I know the nuances of the language in which they are making the film a little more than they do.”
He further adds, “Yet, they often tell me, ‘This is too traditional or This feels outdated.’ In the last 25 years, I have written one script for Farhan: Lakshya. I have written a few dialogues for Zoya’s first film Luck By Chance. She initially asked me to write some dialogue, saying I understood the characters better than they did, but after that, she didn’t ask again.”
Javed concluded by saying, “Then came Dil Dhadakne Do, where Zoya asked me to write the dog’s dialogues. Nothing more. She said, ‘My father will write the dialogues; nobody can capture a dog’s thoughts better than he can.” Javed recently appeared in the documentary series Angry Young Men. The drama follows his cinematic adventure with Salim Khan. The documentary, directed by Namrata Rao, focusses on how Salim and Javed’s collaboration resulted in 22 hits out of 24 films.
The senior screenwriters also talked about their split on the series. The show stars Zoya and Farhan Akhtar, Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, and a number of other superstars. Angry Young Men is available for viewing on Prime Video.