Veteran lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar recently opened up about his children Zoya Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar's professional accomplishments and how they were shaped during their formative years primarily by their mother, Honey Irani. He also shared that as a father he never tried to impose religious identities on his children. He shared an anecdote when an 8-year-old Farhan asked him frankly, "Are we Muslims?"
"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." Javed Akhtar told Lets Talk With DevnaG.
Javed Akhtar also credited first wife Honey Irani for teaching them freedom, responsibility and personal values.
"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," recalled Javed Akhtar.
"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 Akhtar.
Taking pride in his children's achievements, Javed Akhtar 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."
Javed Akhtar has been married to Shabana Azmi since 1984. He was earlier married to screenwriter Honey Irani. The two parted ways in 1985. Honey and Javed share two children, Zoya Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar.
