Filmfare Award for Best Actor, Filmfare Award for Best Film, Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut, IIFA Award for Best Actor, Filmfare Award for Best Dialogue, Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, Screen Award for Best Actor, Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay, Guild Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Filmfare Critics Award for Best Film, IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor, Zee Cine Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi, IIFA Award for Best Screenplay, Stardust Award for Superstar of Tomorrow – Male, Screen Award for Best Film, Guild Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Zee Cine Award for International Male Icon, IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year – Male, Screen Award for Best Dialogue, Zee Cine Critics Award for Best Actor – Male, Zee Cine Award for Most Promising Director, BIG Star Most Entertaining Film Actor – Male, BIG Star Most Entertaining Actor in a Comic Role, ITA Laurel For Gr8! Entertainment Award, Zee Rishtey Award for Favourite Anchor
Nominations
Filmfare Award for Best Director, Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer, IIFA Award for Best Story, IIFA Award for Best Director, Zee Cine Award for Best Actor, Zee Cine Award for Best Director, IIFA Award for Best Male Playback Singer, Zee Cine Award for Best Story, GiMA Award for Best Film Song, Indian Telly Award for Best Anchor/s, Mirchi Music Awards for Listener’s Choice Song of the Year, Guild Award for Best Dialogue, Mirchi Music Awards for Critics' Choice Upcoming Male Vocalist of The Year, BIG Star Most Entertaining Actor in a Comedy Film - Male, BIG Star Most Entertaining Drama Film, BIG Star Film of the Decade, Mirchi Music Awards for Indipop Song of The Year
Movies
Wazir, Rock On 2, Rock On!!, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Dil Dhadakne Do, Raees, Dil Chahta Hai, Karthik Calling Karthik, Shaadi Ke Side Effects, Luck by Chance, Lakshya, Don 2, Don, Baar Baar Dekho, Talaash, Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd., Fukrey, The Fakir of Venice, Positive, Game, Kismat Talkies, Dhruv
TV Shows
Kaun Banega Crorepati, I Can Do That, Oye! It's Friday!
Interesting Facts
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Fact
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Farhan was ready with a powerful script for a film on the lines of a Hollywood war movie complete with a Hollywood cast. The film was titled Sid and was to have majority of the crew and cast member from the West. The script was ready and was supposedly a power packed action venture. The story is war-based, along the lines of Hollywood flick 300. Sid was to be directed by Farhan's best director these days Abhishek Kapoor who also directed his debut film Rock On! The story is by Ashok Kumar Banker, the author of Ramayana. He had earlier written Gods of War. Farhan insists that the film is neither based on God of Wars nor a sequel to Lakshya as perceived by many in the industry. It's a completely different film with a one-of-its kind story.
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Cousin to producer Ritu Shukla (Daisy Irani's daughter).
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Cousin Kabir Shukla (Son of Daisy Irani) works for Zee Cinema. He is the creative director for promo's that air.
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In 2008, he started directing a film titled " A Voice From The Sky". Set in Calcutta 1905, it was based on the invention of the telephone. It starred Akshaye Khanna. He shelved the film and started Don 2.
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Was approached for Rana Daggubati 's role in Dum Maaro Dum but refused.
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Former wife's name is Riya Jain .
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Nephew of script writer K.K.Shukla. (He was married to Farhan's aunt Daisy Irani).
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Nephew of Actor, Director Kamran Khan ( Father of Farah and Sajid Khan).
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Step grandson of Shaukat Azmi and Kaifi Azmi.
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Cousin to bollywood actress/director/choreographer Farhah Khan and Sajid Khan. Brother in law to director Shirish Kunder.
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He is exactly one day older than actor Hrithik Roshan, who's a close friend in personal life.
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Farhan did something very unconventional in Bollywood by singing all his songs himself for the movie Rock On!! (2008) as the movie featured him as a rockstar. Before this movie a very few other actors have done something similar but just for one song and that too experimentally, but Farhan by using his own voice corrected an age-old error which had become a norm of Hindi movies, i.e. the voice of the actor changing during songs because of a totally different voice of playback singer lending his/her voice in the song for the actor on screen.
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He directed the music video for the 1998 hit song "Breathless" from the debut album of Shankar Mahadevan, which made him famous. Later on Farhan Akhtar and Shankar Mahadevan went on to collaborate in every movie Farhan directed, with Shankar composing the music for his films as the trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa).
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Endorses German watch brand - A Lange.
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He loves to write poetries in English and Urdu.
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In an interview on the talk show "The Lounge" with Simone Singh (on the Indian channel CNBC-TV18), Akhtar said that when he left college, he spent about two years at home and did nothing productive. During those two years, he watched about two films daily. Akhtar said that it was this period of his life which allowed him to connect with Karan Shergill, the protagonist of Lakshya (2004). Lakshya, which film Akhtar directed, begins with Karan as a young, unemployed slacker who stays at home, sleeps late, and has no ambition or aim in life.
His unique husky voice in his acting as well as singing
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His method acting
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His every movie features one duet song, through the lyrics of which the lead characters are conversing or debating over something (e.g. the song 'Jaane Kyun' in Dil Chahta Hai (2001), 'Agar Main Kahoon' in Lakshya (2004) and 'Aaj ki Raat' in Don (2006))
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His movies frequently have some sequences shot in Goa, India. Until 2009, almost every movie that he has directed and/or produced has had some parts shot there e.g. - Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Don (2006), Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007), Rock On!! (2008), Luck by Chance (2009).
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In all his movies he only uses the song lyrics written by his father Javed Akhtar.
Most of his movies feature a protagonist who is a coming of age person, who is very naive and immature and through the course of the film has a drastic transformation mentally turning out to become a very mature and responsible character (e.g. Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Lakshya (2004) and Rock On!! (2008))
Works frequently with the producer and a friend in personal life Ritesh Sidhwani. Till now, as of 2009, he has produced all the films directed by Farhan
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Wide angle tracking shots
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Stunning visuals
Quotes
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Quote
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[December 2011] I would hate to watch the same kind of performance over and over again. An actor must keep challenging himself if he wishes to have a really long innings. Even as a filmmaker, I believe in mixing genres. A film must be entertaining. When I say entertaining, I don't mean that you should only make people laugh. You can enthrall them with drama or comedy. There should be a sense of variety in storytelling and performance.
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[December 2011 - Q: "Who is Farhan the actor's favourite actor?"] I do enjoy watching Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan, and Ajay Devgan purely for the fact that when you see their body of work, and the body of work of most other actors, you notice that these guys bring something new to the table by way of a story or character.
3
[Spoken in his 30th Jan 2009 Luck by Chance (2009) special episode of Oye! It's Friday! (2008), when asked, why all of his movies have some portions shot in Goa, India] Yeah that's true. I don't know what the connection is but as friends we all used to make a lot of trips there and then there's a totally free sort of atmosphere there, you can think very clearly. And whenever I go to Goa, even now, I feel that the weight, that is on my shoulders, is gone. I somehow feel that I'm in another world and I don't have any responsibilities there and so I can just be whoever I want to be without thinking about what has to come. And probably just to re-live that atmosphere and to enjoy that, I guess Goa is such an integral part of our (i.e. Excel Entertainment, his production company set up along with friend Ritesh Sidhwani) creative process.
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[Feb. 2009 - on being asked if he'll act some time in a movie directed by himself] No. I don't intend on directing myself in a movie. At least not in a near future.
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[February 2009] I personally feel that since we (the Indian audience) are used to watching a certain kind of entertainment (the typical traditional bollywood movie) it'll take time for everybody to move on from expecting a routine typical Indian movie and accept a different kind of a movie like say Rock On!! (2008) or A Wednesday (2008). It will take a while for such movies to maybe attain a huge blockbuster status but, slowly but surely, people will realize that okay we need to apply ourselves to watching a movie.
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[(February 2009) On why his film Luck by Chance (2009) was found too slow paced by viewers] It's a different pace, I agree. All films will have a different pace. It's important for the audience to view a movie as it is meant to be. You can't go in to a movie with a pre-conceived notion that I want to go in and have fun or something. You have to understand what a film is. Life, 'as' a film, unfolds at a different pace depending on different kind of stories. The movie is a lot about introspection. It's dealing a lot with what's going on within people's lives, within their characters. And there are so many characters, it's not a linear story with one person being followed through and through so it will take a little bit of time to build up. Because in the first half you are catching up with so many different characters, 'establishing their lives', so it may seem a little scattered which at times may be a little exhausting to watch but that's the nature of the story and you can't escape that.
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[(February 2009) On the title sequence of his sister's film Luck by Chance (2009), which presents very humanely the crew working behind the scenes in films] At the end of the day when you are working, that's the truth of it. I mean glamour is something that comes from adulation by people who idolize their stars from watching their movies. That adds to glamour. But when you are working, today especially, unlike before in 1994 when I was an assistant, there was a lot more hierarchal kind of a system, you couldn't really go upto the lead actor and start talking to them, but now everyone treats each other with a lot more respect, they understand that someone is putting on manual labour. It's not 'creative' labour though but at the end of the day he is working really hard to make sure your film looks a certain way. We wanted that to put this in a bit of focus in this film.
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[on his suddenly isolating from the outer world during the shooting of Karthik Calling Karthik (2010) - June (2009)] It was the nature of the character I was playing. He's a guy lost in his world. So I was making an effort to isolate myself. Lately I've just been switching off from the world for the sake of my character. If you want to call it method acting, so be it.
$2.5 Million
