Farhan Akhtar Was Angry With Father Javed Akhtar For Leaving His Mother Honey Irani; ‘I Felt Betrayed’

Farhan Akhtar doesn’t need any introduction. He is a very popular musician, filmmaker, and actor. He is also the son of popular lyricist and dialogue writer Javed Akhtar. Recently, a series titled Angry Young Men featuring the hit Jodi of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar was released. In the same, Farhan opened up about his relationship with his father Javed Akhtar. He mentioned that he was angry and felt betrayed when his father left his mother Honey Irani and married Shabana Azmi.

In the last episode, Farhan Akhtar recalled the tough time and said, “There was a phase when I was angry with him. I felt betrayed by him. There were all those normal emotions that I go through as a child growing up.” Zoya Akhtar also added that it took time to accept the new marriage and adjust to those family dynamics. She also emphasized that Shabana Azmi played a major role in bringing back normalcy. “After the split happened, we lived with our mother (Honey Irani). So, we ended up spending more time with our mother. But, Yaa…It took time to go back to normal with my dad and I think Shabana has played a big part in creating that normalcy,” said Zoya.

In the same series, Javed Akhtar opened up about his failed marriage with his first wife, Honey Irani. The writer-lyricist took ’60 to 70 percent’ responsibility for his failed marriage. He added that if he had as much understanding of life as he did today when he was younger, things would have been different. While Javed poured his heart out during a conversation in the new docu-series Angry Young Men, Shabana Azmi lauded Honey for her reaction to the split.

Speaking in the Amazon Prime Video series, Javed said, “Honey is one person in the world towards whom I feel guilty. And she’s the only person. About 60 to 70 person responsibility lies on my shoulder for the failure of that marriage. If I had as much understanding as I have today, perhaps, things would not have gone wrong. It’s very difficult to accept. But that’s how it is.”

Javed and Honey fell in love with Honey on the sets of Seeta Aur Geeta. Honey played Hema Malini’s cousin in the film. They got married in 1972. However, Javed and Honey got divorced in 1985. Javed got married to Shabana Azmi soon after. He co-parented Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar with Honey.