Zoya Akhtar reveals telling cameraman ‘I’m your boss’ when he opted to take orders from Farhan Akhtar instead of her

Despite her lineage, filmmaker Zoya Akhtar has made a name for herself in the film industry after delivering successful films like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Dil Dhadakne Do, Gully Boy and web series Made In Heaven. She is now working on live-action musical film adaptation of the popular comics, The Archies. The director has now revealed that at the time of her debut, her technicians chose to take orders from her lead actor rather than her. Also read: The Archies teaser: Suhana Khan, Khushi Kapoor, Agastya Nanda bring to life Archie’s world in Zoya Akhtar film. Watch

Farah is the daughter of lyricist Javed Akhtar and screenwriter Honey Irani and sister of actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar. She directed Farhan in her directorial debut, Luck By Chance in 2009.

Zoya, who has now come a long way with her body of work, told The Hindu in an interview, “When I started directing (Luck By Chance), my brother was my lead actor, and he was an established filmmaker already. So, I had certain technicians ask him if the shot was okay, and he had to be like, she is the director.”

She further added, “I had taken a Steadicam operator to the side and said, ‘I don’t think we can work together if you won’t speak to me.’ And he (the cameraman) responded saying, ‘But you’re like my sister.’ I said, ‘I’m not your sister, I’m your boss!’ We subsequently became friends, because it was a chat without any angst involved.”

Luck By Chance was praised by the critics but did not perform well at the box office. She followed it with a much successful film, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara just two years later.

Zoya is now gearing up for the second season of Made In Heaven. She is also working on The Archies, which would mark the film debut of Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana Khan, Boney Kapoor’s daughter Khushi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan’s son Agastya Nanda.