Veteran lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar has two children, Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar, from his former wife Honey Irani. In a recernt interview, he spoke about the upbringing of their children during their formative years, and completely credited Honey for it. Javed also weighed in on Farhan and Zoya’s professional achievements. 

‘Farhan and Zoya have achieved all this strictly on their own’

Speaking about Farhan and Zoya, Javed said, “Well, I am proud of them because not that they are successful, they are doing well, they are living well but they have achieved all this strictly on their own. No thanks to the parents. They have done it on their own.”

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He continued, “It’s not because of me. I have no contribution in their success honestly but at the same time what makes me proud is that they have achieved success by doing good work and decent work. They have not been desperate to achieve success, name, fame, money at any cost. They have not made pictures that are crude and vulgar by any stretch of imagination. They have their dignity and their dignity is in the work also. That makes me very happy.”

Javed Akhtar credits Honey Irani for their children’s upbringing

When the interviewer asked the Sholay screenwriter about raising children who respect their parents without fearing them, Javed gave major credit to Honey. 

He said, “Major major credit goes to Honey; she has brought them up. When Honey and I parted, Zoya was perhaps 11, he was 9 and a half and these were the formative years.” Javed added that while he remained in touch with Farhan and Zoya, they were living with Honey, who played the bigger role in shaping them.

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“Honey saw to it that they understood what they should and shouldn’t do, what freedoms they should and shouldn’t have, and so on. She also ensured they understood what values and morals they should imbibe and what they should not accept. So, I think there are major major contributions of Honey in their development as people,” said Javed.

Javed Akhtar, however, smiled and said that he would take some credit for instilling a reading habit in them. “I used to read much more than what I read today, much more than that. I used to read a lot and I think children do what you do. So, somehow this habit of reading and today I’m embarrassed to tell you they read  more than me.”

On not introducing his children to religion

During the interview, Javed Akhtar also shared that he didn’t introduce religions to his children. He said, “They were areligious because by that time, perhaps some other father would have given them some religion. By the time you are 11 or 12, you get a religion. I did not give them any religion at all. I  remember Farhan was perhaps seven or eight years old and one day he came back from the school and his bag was on his shoulder. He came running to me because that was so important and he asked me, ‘Are we Muslims? So, I told him, ‘Listen, what happens is that when you are born, you are born in some city—Pune, Mumbai, Agra, Ahmedabad, London, New York, or wherever. You are born the same way. If you are born, you’ll be born in some community, but it is not important which city you were born in or which community, what is important is what you are. I mean, they are totally areligious.”