Farhan Akhtar recollects Honey Irani's ‘unmotherly’ act of toppling auto, slapping man who groped a woman

Farhan Akhtar spoke on a recent podcast about how his impression of his mother, Honey Irani, completely changed after an incident.

Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar recently opened up about an incident with his mother, actor-writer Honey Irani, that he witnessed in the 1980s. On Prakhar Gupta’s podcast, Farhan spoke about how watching his mother slap a man who groped a woman in public and topple his auto completely changed his ‘psyche’. Here’s what he said.

Farhan Akhtar said his mother Honey Irani 'changed his psyche' the day she stood up to a man who groped a woman in public.

Farhan Akhtar on learning from Honey Irani

Farhan recollected how Honey was driving in a car in the 1980s when she witnessed a man in a rickshaw grope a woman standing on a divider. “My mom stopped, made the lady who was crying sit in her car, followed the rickshaw, took the guy out, gave him 3-4 slaps and toppled the rickshaw. She then dropped the lady home. When she came back, she was still in that frame of mind when she was telling my aunt all about it,” he said.

While Farhan thought it was ‘unmotherly’ of Honey to slap the man, he said he was ‘blown away’ by it. “That incident, in my mind back then, was a very unmotherly thing. You don’t imagine women getting into scraps on the road. I was blown away by the whole thing. It gave me an insight that if you see something like this, you have to stand up. You can’t just be like, arre, how sad, and move on. It was a key turning moment in my psyche towards understanding her. And also in terms of what she represented in that moment to that woman as well. It broke the image I had of her in a great way,” said the actor.

About Honey Irani

Honey began her career as a child actor in films such as Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan and Bombay Ka Chor. She debuted as a screenwriter with the 1991 Sridevi-starrer Lamhe and wrote the screenplay and story for films like Darr, Laawaaris, and Awaarapan. She also directed the 2003 ensemble film Armaan. Honey was married to Javed Akhtar from 1972-1985. They have two children, Zoya Akhtar and Farhan. Farhan was last seen in the 2021 film Toofan. He will soon star in 120 Bahadur.