Actor-turned-director-turned singer and now the father of a teenage daughter, Farhan talks about the different roles he plays on and off screen.
You’ve proved yourself in many ways. But there was a time by your own admission, when people didn’t expect much from you I genuinely was confused. I wasn’t ill mannered or anti-social, I would just sit watching TV and films. You can imagine, if someone sits at home for two years doing nothing, there is definitely a problem. So the only way my mom thought she could motivate me was to tell me to leave the house — she said “I will throw you out of the house, enough of this behaviour.”
You are yourself now the father of a teenager. What’s that like The younger one, eight years old, is closer to me than the elder one, now 15. She prefers spending time away from me. But the younger one always has either my wife or me with her. I get to spend time with them since most of my shoots happen in Mumbai. You started as an assistant director, how did all the other roles come along Slowly and gradually my interest in things increased. I always had an inclination towards music since childhood and used to love playing the guitar. At the age of 18-19, I bought my first guitar and learnt to play it myself without any training. I bought my own books and then through the Internet, learnt a lot about music. There are phases in life when you feel that you should focus only on one particular thing. So as of now, I have been shooting for I Can Do That apart from Rock On 2. While the show gives you a kick out of pushing your limits, the film is all about the two things that are closest to my heart — acting and music. I am really enjoying music as of now and through this movie, we get to do a lot of concerts and sit in music studios, creating music. There will be a time when I want to direct and will only concentrate on that.
Do you recall the time you said ‘I can do that’ to yourself I say ‘I can do that’ when I do anything related to work or activities like sky diving or when I got married at the age of 26 [laughs]! It’s a phrase you repeat to yourself when you take on something new and you have to try new things —that’s how one grows.
