Zoya Akhtar is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in Hindi cinema. She was born on October 14, 1972. Born to Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, she worked as an assistant to directors Mira Nair, Tony Gerber, and Dev Benegal after earning a diploma in filmmaking from NYU. Later, she went on to pursue her own career as a writer and director.
Zoya Akhtar has won multiple awards, including four Filmfare Awards. In October 2015, Akhtar and Reema Kagti established Tiger Baby Films, a film and web production company.
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Her breakout film was the ensemble buddy road comedy-drama Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Director and the Filmfare Award for Best Debut Director. Zoya Akhtar made her directing debut with the drama Luck by Chance (2009). Subsequently, she co-wrote the psychological crime thriller Talaash: The Answer Lies Within (2012) with Reema Kagti and directed a scene from the anthology film Bombay Talkies (2013) called Sheila Ki Jawaani.
Subsequently, Akhtar directed the musical drama Gully Boy (2019), segments in the anthology films Lust Stories (2018) and Ghost Stories (2020), and the ensemble family comedy-drama Dil Dhadakne Do (2015). For the latter, she won her second Filmfare Award for Best Director, making her the only female director to win the award twice.
With the OTT series Dahaad (2023–present) and the romantic comedy-drama series Made in Heaven (2019–present), she made her foray into the world of over-the-top content. She directed the live-action Netflix feature film adaption of The Archies in 2023.
Zoya Akhtar also serves on the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image’s (MAMI) board of director
Zoya Akhtar Childhood
Screenwriter Honey Irani and poet, lyricist, and screenwriter Javed Akhtar were Akhtar’s parents. Shabana Azmi, an actress, is Akhtar’s stepmother. Farhan Akhtar, her younger brother, is an actor and filmmaker. She was educated at Mumbai’s Maneckji Cooper Education Trust School and St. Xavier’s College, where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree. She later enrolled in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University to study filmmaking.
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Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, her great-grandfather, was a theologian and scholar of Islamic studies. At Mirza Ghalib’s request, he edited the first diwan. Later, at his native Khairabad, he played a role in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Zoya Akhtar Career
Initiation (1996–2007)
In the beginning of her career, Akhtar co-directed the Price of Bullets music video for the rock group Pentagram. She has directed casting for motion pictures such as the ensemble comedy-drama Dil Chahta Hai (2001) and the drama Split Wide Open (1999). She has also served as assistant director for the motion pictures Dil Chahta Hai and the coming-of-age war drama Lakshya (2004), both directed by her brother Farhan Akhtar. Subsequently, she served as an executive producer for Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007), an Excel Entertainment-produced comedy-drama starring her old friend and collaborator Reema Kagti.
Akhtar collaborated with Dibakar Banerjee, Karan Johar, and Anurag Kashyap on the anthology film Bombay Talkies in 2013. In honour of 100 years of Indian film, it was created. Critics gave her a great assessment for her part Sheila Ki Jawaani, which presented the story of a 12-year-old girl who grew up idolising Hindi film diva Katrina Kaif and wants to become a Bollywood dancer. At the box office, nevertheless, the movie was a commercial failure.
Success in the future and career growth (from 2015 to the present)
The ensemble family comedy-drama Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), which depicted the tale of a dysfunctional Punjabi family, was subsequently directed by Akhtar.
The musical drama Gully Boy, which starred Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt in the key roles, was directed by Akhtar in 2019. The life of Mumbai rapper Naezy served as a loose inspiration for the movie. When it was first released, it garnered favourable reviews from critics and became a box office hit, earning ₹2.38 billion (US$33.8 million) globally, making it the ninth highest-grossing Hindi film of the year.
Gully Boy broke the record set by Black (2005) with 11 wins at the 65th Filmfare accolades, winning a record 13 accolades, the highest for a single film in a year. In addition to winning her second Filmfare Award for Best Director, the movie made Akhtar (together with Kagti) the only female director to win a Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay.
The live-action feature film adaption of The Archies, which debuted on Netflix, was subsequently directed by Akhtar. In the movie, debutantes Yuvraj Menda, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Jughead Jones, Dilton Doiley, Betty Andrews, Vedang Raina, Aditi Saigal, and Yuvraj Nanda play Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Jughead Jones, and Ethel Muggs, respectively. When it was first released, critics gave it varying reviews.
Next, she wrote the love drama Kho Gaye Hum Kahan alongside Kagti, Arjun Varain Singh, and Yash Sahai. Singh directed the film, which starred Adarsh Gourav, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, and Rohan Gurbaxani in the key parts. The narrative of three friends is told in the film, which is slated to be released on February 16, 2024.
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