Farhan Akhtar started his career by working as an apprentice with cinematographer-director, Manmohan Singh at age 17, for films like Lamhe (1991); before going on to assist director, Pankaj Parashar in film Himalayputra (1997), followed by working in a television production house for three years, doing various jobs.

He made his writing and directorial debut in Hindi cinema with the 2001-hit, Dil Chahta Hai, produced by Excel Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., a production company he co-established along with Ritesh Sidwani in 1999.The movie told the story of three friends (played by Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna), recently graduated from college and dealing with issues of love and friendship. It was a critical and commercial success, especially popular among the younger generation. It earned quite a few nominations at various award shows, including for Best Screenplay, Direction and Film. It won that year’s National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

Akhtar then moved onto his next project, Lakshya (2004), a movie about an aimless youngster finally setting a goal for himself, starring Hrithik Roshan and Preity Zinta. Though the movie did not do as well at the box-office, it won him much critical acclaim. The script of the movie was authored by his father Javed Akhtar.

He then directed a remake of the 1978 Amitabh Bachchan film, Don titled Don – The Chase Begins Again which starred Shahrukh Khan in the title role. The film released on 20 October 2006. Though the movie was critically hammered, it proved to be a great success at the box office, grossing over 50 crores, and being the fifth biggest hit of the year.In 2007 he produced the film Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. which performed fairly well at the box office.

In 2007, he directed, Positive, a 12-minute short film on HIV stigma and the need for family support for the patient. Shot in Mumbai, it was part of ‘AIDS JaaGo’ (AIDS Awake), a series of four short films, directed by Mira Nair, Santosh Sivan, Vishal Bhardwaj and Farhan Akhtar, in a joint initiative of Mira Nair’s Mirabai Films and voluntary organisations Avahan and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.The film stars, Boman Irani, Shabana Azmi and a debutant actor, Arjun Mathur.

In 2008, Akhtar made his acting debut in Rock On!!. It was critically acclaimed as well as a box office hit, doing exceptionally well particularly in the metros.He also appeared as the male lead in his sister Zoya’s directorial debut, Luck By Chance. His latest film is Kartik Calling Kartik. Two more movies are scheduled to release: Dhruv and Gulel.In 2011 Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is scheduled to release in which he co-stars with hrithik.

Akhtar also made his singing debut in Rock On!!, singing in most of the movie’s songs. He was even supposed to sing a song for Blue, which has music by A. R. Rahman. However this could not happen as Akhtar was shooting for Kartik Calling Karthik then and could not find the time.

He has appeared as a judge on a few shows on television, including the first season of the dance-reality show, Nach Baliye (2005), and the beauty pageant, Femina Miss India (in 2002). He also hosted a TV show on NDTV Imagine, called Oye! It’s Friday!.

Farhan Akhtar and Deepika Padukone were made to dance on the streets of Kochi when they were shooting there recently for their film Karthik Calling Karthik. A group of 20-25 youngsters landed at the Kochi Fort where they were shooting and did not allow them to shoot until both Deepika and Farhan danced with them to the tunes of Rock On!!.

Farhan and Deepika, who are both extremely shy, refused at first. However, the crowd went crazy and did not allow them to shoot. They started making a noise and they were so loud that it was impossible to concentrate on the shoot. Finally both of them had to agree. The crowd piped down and left only after Farhan and Deepika danced for at least 10 minutes with them.

The competent director-actor-singer Farhan Akhtar was in for a pleasant surprise at the sets of his movie ‘Karthik Calling Karthik’ when well-known Hollywood director, Ang Lee, visited the sets.

Multi-talented Farhan was shooting for the movie when Lee surprised everyone on the sets with his presence and showed interest in the project.

Farhan has always admired Ang Lee’s work in Hollywood and was immensely excited to have a chat with the director.

Farhan Akhtar is certainly a busy boy with not only acting projects but also a new film as a producer and he is getting ready to work on his next project as director. He is working on Kartik Versus Kartik as an actor; he will be producing Abhishek Kappor’s next film and his directing project? Well, that is the highly, highly anticipated sequel to his hit Don that starred Shah Rukh Khan.

In fact Akhtar is not only directing Don 2, he is also writing the script and two newcomers who are also Don fans join him.

After playing two thought provoking roles as wannabe singer and wannabe actor in Rock On and Luck By Chance, Farhan Akhtar is all set to try his hand at comedy for the first time in Kartik Calling Kartik.

“Not that Kartik… is a full-fledged comedy. It’s a thriller. But it has a lot of light funny moments, something that I missed out in my first two, actually three (the unreleased The Fakir Of Venice) starrers,” According to Farhan.

Deepika Padukone plays the female lead in Kartik Calling Kartik that also stars Shefali Shah and Boman Irani. “We start shooting in April,” said Farhan, who also plans to cut a music album.

Farhan has just completed his innings as a chat-show anchor on Oye! It’s Friday. In the last episode, he entertained cricketer Sourav Ganguly and actress Kangana Ranaut as his guests.

The film name is ‘Kartik Calling Kartik’ and Farhan Akhtar is playing a pivotal role in the movie with Deepika Padukone. The script of the film has been written by Vijay Lalwani and he convinced Farhan Akhtar not just to produce it but also to play a leading role in the movie.

It is said that Deepika Padukone has shown her interest in the script but still she has not finalized the film. The film will be a thriller and will go on floor at various locations in India in the first half of 2009.
At the same time, Farhan Akhtar is extremely busy in promoting his forthcoming film ‘Luck By Chance’ which has been directed by her sister Zoya Akhtar.