Javed Akhtar is a veteran lyricist and writer in Indian cinema. While the industry respects Akhtar’s work his children Farhan and Zoya call his writing outdated. The writer recently shared that his children easily become his boss, don’t relate to his dialogues, and even don’t take his help in writing. He recalled, for Dil Dhadakne Do, Zoya asked him to write only dog’s dialogues.

In an interview with Sapan Verma, Javed Akhtar said, “It's very easy for them to be my boss. Other people might hesitate to speak freely because I am a senior and veteran, but my kids have no consideration, particularly Zoya. Farhan doesn’t fight, he simply rejects my lines, but Zoya engages in fights with me. Their first language is English; they dream in English. Mine, however, is Urdu or Hindustani. So, I know the nuances of the language in which they are making the film a little more than they do. Yet, they often tell me, ‘This is too traditional or This feels outdated.’” 

He continued, “In the last 25 years, I have written one script for Farhan: Lakshya. I have written a few dialogues for Zoya’s first film Luck By Chance. She initially asked me to write some dialogue, saying I understood the characters better than they did, but after that, she didn’t ask again. Then came Dil Dhadakne Do, where Zoya asked me to write the dog’s dialogues. Nothing more. She said, ‘My father will write the dialogues; nobody can capture a dog’s thoughts better than he can.”

Javed Akhtar was recently seen in the documentary ‘Angry Young Men’ which chronicles his journey as a writer and his dynamic collaboration with Salim Khan. Both were iconic writer duo renowned as Salim-Javed. The Amazon Prime Video docuseries is produced by their respective children under Excel Entertainment, Tiger Baby Films, and Salman Khan Films.