Rockstar arrives: Farhan Akhtar talks about his passion for music, family and inspiration

From strumming a guitar in school to “feeling his legs turn to jelly at a mall in Mumbai when asked to sing the title track of Rock On” to having a music band now, Farhan Akhtar admits he’s come quite far as a singer, as a stage performer.

Farhan will be in Hyderabad on Sunday to headline the two-day WindSong Music Festival with his nine-member band, Farhan Live. And, he is excited to be performing for the first time here.

“Just to come and share the music we have made in our films over the last 10 or 12 years with the fans here is very exciting. The common feeling everywhere when people come for a concert is that they want to have a good time. So, I like taking my energy from my audience and throwing it back to them.”

But performing live still unnerves Farhan, as he says, “I equate it (stage fright) to jumping out of a plane. I have done 100-plus jumps by now, but every time I go to the door, there’s always that one little element of ‘what if?’ at the back of my head. I get that same feeling when I walk up the stairs to the stage. Then I take a deep breath, and it’s always good after that.”

So, does Farhan perform any ritual before he takes on the mic, like most rockers world-wide? “Not really. But should I? Maybe it will help if I have my own little totem pole. Now that you ask me this, I remember Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones was once asked, ‘What do you do before a concert?’ He said: ‘I wake up!’,” says Farhan, who credits his earliest and predominant interest in music to The Beatles. Later, Coldplay, U2 and Pearl Jam and musicians Kishore Kumar and R.D. Burman also shaped his music.

And how do his daughters, Shakya and Akira, react to their dad being a rockstar? Do they have favourite Farhan numbers? “They are always very excited! I think they like the music of Rock On!! the most because they connect with my voice. They also like the music of Karthik Calling Karthik. Shakya, the older one, likes the Dil Chahta Hai album because she was very young when she first heard it. They also like songs of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara because it’s a ‘happy’ music for them, the kind they can sing along to.”

Amid his film and music assignments as also his social campaign, MARD, the 40-year-old does regret not spending enough time with his kids and wife Adhuna, who is a celebrity hairstylist and is responsible for the popular looks in all his films, Dil Chahta Hai, Rock On!! and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

He says he de-stresses completely only when he is holidaying with his family because being at home is not always exactly “free time”.

Farhan says, “There are people who successfully manage to switch off (when they are at home). But I am not one of them. Work does affect my personal life, it takes away a lot from my family time but it doesn’t stress me out. My family understands me and my personality. They know that my work is important to me and that when I’m working, my mind will be occupied. Sometimes, I will have mood swings. And when it happens, Adhuna knows that I need to be left alone. At the same time, people at work, especially my business partner and close friend, Ritesh Sidhwani, understands that when I am not working, I like to be at home, with my wife and kids. This makes it a good balance.”

Another thing that Farhan yearns for is “not being taken for granted.” He is a reserved person, who doesn’t enjoy being seen at parties for the sake of it.

“People don’t give you enough space for allowing you to be individually the way you are, which is something I just don’t like. It’s almost like, if you don’t conform to a certain way of being, you are a snob or you don’t care. To me, being a non-conformist is okay as I am like that… And, going for a social occasion, as it’s a must-do thing, does not fit into my scheme of things.”