Farhan Akhtar

Some Lesser Known Facts About Farhan Akhtar

• Does Farhan Akhtar smoke?: No (Quit)

• Does Farhan Akhtar drink alcohol?: Yes

  

• He belongs to a family of poets and writers; like his grandfather, Jan Nisar Akhtar was an Urdu poet, who was the great-grandson of the poet Muztar Khairabadi.

• Since his childhood, he has that bug of acting in himself, as he used to roam around in the house with a toy gun thinking that villains are there.

• He was a very naughty and mysterious child; as once her mom told that while she was busy in her meeting, Frahan came and asked to bath in her room, to which she agreed. Later, she found that Farhan was bathing on her bed with a tub and mug in his hand.

• Once, he was dismissed from HR College in the second year of his Commerce degree.

• In his teens, he worked as a film distributor for Yash Raj Films, and then he worked for 3 years at Script Shop under the team of advertisement production.

• Initially, he worked as an assistant director in films such as Lamhe and Himalay Putra.

  

• In spite of watching ‘Sholay’ 50 times, he didn’t find it perfect and said that ‘Deewar’ was much better than that.

• He was very young when his parents got separated and his father, Javed Akhtar, married actress Shabana Azmi in 1984.

  

• He has Katsaridaphobia, i.e. fear of cockroaches and he dreams of overcoming it one day.

• Farhan was the first choice for the film Rang De Basanti, but later it went to Aamir Khan.

• Farhan wrote “Dil Chahta Hai” when his mother gave him an ultimatum that she will throw him out of the house if he didn’t do anything with his life.

• In 2002, he appeared as one of the nine judges in Femina Miss India, a famous beauty pageant.

• He gets on his nerves whenever he sees some unorganised stuff around him.

• Although he knew to ride car since his 20s, he learnt to ride the bike at the time he signed Karthik Calling Karthik.

• After he solved Rubik’s cube for his movie Karthik Calling Karthik, he became so passionate and addicted towards it that he used to solve it everywhere in parties, shoots, meetings, and get-togethers.

  

• The reason behind most of his films are based on friendship is that when his parents got divorced, his friends became his biggest support system.

• He was offered a role in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra‘s 2006 film ‘Rang De Basanti’, but he declined the offer; as he wasn’t interested in doing acting at that time.

• While writing the script of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, he planned to star Shah Rukh, but SRK dropped out. Farhan has played the role of a person who has a fear of skydiving, but in real life, he is a certified skydiver.

  

• When he first met Milkha Singh during the research of his biopic, Milka challenged him for a race. He did rigorous training of 18 months to get into Milkha’s character in the movie.

• Famous personalities- Farah Khan and Sajid Khan are his cousins.

  

• He is the ambassador of UN Women’s Goodwill.

  

• For the dog named Pluto to act and lick in his film, Dil Dhadakne Do, he applied a pack of vanilla ice-cream onto his face before every shot of that scene. Moreover, the film was his ninth collaboration with his sister Zoya Akhtar.

• The idea of launching MARD (Men Against Rape and Discrimination) came into his mind when a lawyer named Pallavi Purkayastha was first sexually assaulted and then killed by her home watchman.

  

• His favourite genre is action in acting, and he once told that in his childhood, he was so curious to do stunts and action that he punched on his sister’s nose by mistake.

• Robert DiNero, a famous Hollywood legend is his inspiration.

  

• His sister revealed many secrets about him in an interview; she told that Farhan used to watch a lot of movies in his childhood and if he liked the film, he used to get into his favourite character and roam around in the house for days or even weeks.

• He is considered as the all-rounder of Bollywood; as he is a director, producer, actor, and singer. Here’s a video showcasing his singing at Indian of the Year awards:

• His ex-wife Adhuna is seven years elder to him, they both dated for three years before getting married in 2000.

• He is a travel buff and also has a sweet tooth. He can do anything for maintaining his fitness, but he cannot avoid eating sweet dishes.

• The tattoo on his right shoulder was made by mistake, as he was drunk and went to a shop and had it.

• Farhan has also appeared in various advertisements for multitudinous brands like Pureit, Chivas Regal, Britannia Nutri Choice Biscuits, IndusInd Bank, Dulux Paint, and Titan Industries, etc.

• His sister, Zoya revealed that Farhan is very good at lying.