Farhan Akhtar: A new dawn in Bollywood 
By IndiaFM News Bureau, March 19, 2007 - 10:46 IST
New kid on the block
“There is a search for something or the other in almost every film that’s made; I think my film normally deals with men of my age who struggle… I guess I understand
on some level having been through it. As of now they reflect what I feel about life, what I feel about certain things.”
Farhan Akhtar established his whiz kid reputation with this, his debut feature film ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. It released in August of 2001 and in its wake came a paradigm shift
for not just Bollywood, but across popular media in India especially in characterization, dialogue, art direction and styling.
But for all the poise with which the film was handled, the curious thing was, that its 27 year old debutant writer - director had thus far been, by turns, party animal, intrepid
globe trotter, photography aficionado, college drop out, assistant at an advertising production house, and by his own admission, largely a boy without a goal.
Farhan Akhtar comes from formidable film stock. His mother Honey Irani is a successful writer with credits that include big films like ‘Lamhe’, ‘Darr’, ‘Kaho Na
Pyar Hai’ & ‘Koi Mil Gaya’. His poet- lyricist- writer father Javed Akhtar has a staggering body of work as part of the Salim-Javed duo, which includes
creating the persona for Hindi cinema’s most enduring superstar Amitabh Bachchan and writing one of India’s biggest blockbusters “Sholay”.
The taste of success….
This journey from boyhood to manhood is a semi autobiographical motif of sorts in Farhan Akhtar’s work – something explored in his second film as well. But that comes
later. For now, fresh off the release of ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, a surge of popular opinion was creating unprecedented buzz about the film.
That energy & newness was evident in all aspects of the film. Based loosely on a dairy Farhan had been keeping, the script he eventually wrote reflected a lifestyle and
preoccupations which he knew well and consequently the film rang true.
Suddenly audiences were introduced to scenes in which actors had conversations as opposed to delivering dialogue.
The art direction, wardrobe & hair styling also got a lot of attention & created something of a fashion trend for months to follow.
So novelty & naturalness became the film’s USP and helped it stand apart. And Farhan Akhtar began being called the ‘face of the next generation’ of Hindi cinema. But
it wasn’t all good news. The film, though a true reflection of young, urban, upper middle class Indians was hardly identifiable by country wide cinema audiences.
Consequently, it was a commercial success in only a few metro centers. Within these centers as well, not everyone agreed that ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ was the new
benchmark for production values.
Much of the popularity of Farhan Akhtar’s 2001 debut film ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ has been attributed to its music, which was produced by musician trio Shankar, Ehsaan and
Loy.
“We decided to bring them to Ritesh’s house and set up a little studio inside this room, so that we could be undisturbed. No one has to answer phone calls – not really
Ritesh & me but more Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy & my Dad; it was a good bonding time. I think the sense of collaboration that happened, reflected in the music because
there is an element of fun in the music and there was an element of fun that happened while composing the music.”
The songs were the integral part of the story. I think they all took the story from one point to another and the fact that it was a new kind of sound, a fresh sensibility of
film music– it all worked after people saw the film.”
Towards his Lakshya
“I think the more I get to know myself, the more I learn about how comfortable I am with my craft and the art form that I’m in is reflected more & more in the kind of
work I choose to do. I think right now I’m probably still trying to discover what I truly want to reflect in my movies as my personality….”
And so, with considerable acclaim behind him, Farhan Akhtar got into the production of his second film. This time he chose to base it on a story written by his father,
something particularly newsworthy as it was to be his first script in over a decade. Moved by his encounters with army officers during the Kargil war, Javed Akhtar had
decided it was a story that needed telling.
Lakshya told the story of ‘Karan Shergill’ played by actor Hritik Roshan – a college going boy whose life distinctly lacks a purpose or ‘lakshya’.
Spending time with his girlfriend ‘Romila’, played by Preity Zinta, and leading a painfully idle life, Shergill’s eventual journey from boy to man unfolds against the backdrop
of the Kargil war. During which he finally finds himself, his character and his purpose.
Made & sold at approximately double the cost of his first film, Lakshya was highly anticipated by audiences & critics alike. But while the first film had been almost
universally accepted as a milestone picture, this second film was almost universally criticized as a failure.
A far fetched Lakshya?
So what went wrong? Lakshya had everything going for it. Receptive audiences, the USP of Javed Akhtar having written it, lavish budgets that allowed scale, top of
the line technicians, and an A list cast.
“For me its difficult to say – From people who have reacted to the films, the opinions I would trust, they said if ‘Lakshya’ was made by a newcomer whose film wasn’t
burdened with a certain amount of expectancy especially after a movie like ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, the film probably would have been appreciated a little more. We all tend to
do it. If there’s a movie we like, by a filmmaker or starring an actor or an actress we like, we tend to always go into their next movie with a certain expectancy hoping to
be entertained as much, hoping to love it as much or identify with each character as much. But that didn’t happen with Lakshya.”
But Lakshya did get noticed for several things. Hritik Roshan’s astonishingly compelling performance, the brilliant cinematography, the special effects, and the sheer scale
of production executed in some of India’s most inhospitable terrains.
Would it be fairer to assume that audiences & critics would have been kinder if this had been Farhan Akhtar’s first film?
A new beginning
Be that as it may, Farhan Akhtar has made one of Bollywood’s most significant debuts. So significant in fact that he counts as an A list director in any contemporary
listing of Bollywood directors, despite following it up with an unsuccessful second film.
“Both films, I guess have a kind of similar thread where we have characters that are a bit wayward & a bit lost on different fronts in the two different movies. But
eventually end up finding true love, finding themselves, so I guess a classic journey of a boy from boyhood to manhood. I think that’s probably the kind of journey I’m at. I
guess I don’t think I’ve gotten there yet so reflecting on what may be my quest in life is to find what it is truly and that I stand for on the larger scheme of things.”
At 30, Farhan Akhtar is only just beginning. And chances are that he’ll find a way to create a significant body of work that will live up to the talent he has shown so far.
Work that will influence & set trends for Indian audiences. And seeing as how that’s every sixth citizen in the world – it really counts for something!
(Courtesy: Bollywood Bosses, The History Channel)
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