With her latest film Dil Dhadakne Do, Zoya Akhtar has proven that she is a director with a unique cinematic voice. The film is not just being loved by the audiences, but what is beautiful about it is how Zoya without being preachy has dealt with the extremely relevant subject of gender equality. While the 'Mehras' in the film are extremely different than the Akhtars' in real life, the brother-sister unspoken bond and support that Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra have for each of other in the film is what Zoya shares with her own bother, Farhan Akhtar. Zoya and Farhan's love, support and respect for each other shows up immediately when you meet them together. While they are from opposite planets when it comes to being organised, as Farhan borders on having a cleanliness OCD to a Zoya who thrives on being messy, and while Zoya may be emotionally more expressive than Farhan, the fact is that they share their core values in life, including their strong support to gender equality. The extremely talented, bright and sorted siblings together in an exclusive conversation with the Bombay Times. Excerpts:

In Dil Dhadakne Do, one of the most special things you take back is the unspoken bond between Ranveer Singh and his sister Priyanka Chopra and his support to her, given the highly patriarchal family they are a part of. Is there an echo from your own relationship even though you come from an extremely liberated background?
Zoya: I don't think it is sometimes protection from an external force, but most times it is about emotional support. Our lives are completely different than the Mehras as our parents are completely different. We don't belong to that world and are only observers to that world. But yes, Farhan and me give each other a lot of emotional support.

What would each of you rely on the other for?
Zoya: I think I tend to sometimes get very confused whether I should do this or that. Farhan is very clear and I rely on him to get my own clarity and focus.
Farhan: Because of our history of living together for so many years, Zoya is somebody who really gets me. She can get me just seeing my face if something is not right, which I have difficulty at times in speaking to other people about what I am feeling, but I find it very easy to speak to her. Our lives are totally different from the 'Mehras', but the kind of communication and the dependency that Ranveer and Priyanka have on each other for their emotional support is very very similar to Zoya and me. With her, I don't ever have to go to her and tell her something is up, the moment she will see me or hear my voice, she will know. I am really comfortable with her and the confusion that she has for self doesn't exist when she has to give me advice. I find her much more clear on the emotional front on things that you are feeling or need to deal with. She is more clear and honest about what she is feeling, that for me takes a really long time to arrive at that point.

Farhan, your love for Zoya comes through in the way you so comfortably play just a supporting role in her film.
Farhan: I would do it for any director that I would trust and yes, of course, I trust Zoya and that is beyond her as a director. The fact is that I was making my sister's film by producing it, but I didn't have to be in it but I wanted to be a part of it. It's not very often as an actor that you get well-written material to be a part of. Also, I kind of liked his value system, be it his take on gender or not having a predefined role for a woman and the fact that she does not have to take permission to work, which is very different from the kind of pool that the 'Mehras' are swimming in. I somehow liked the kind of poetry in the fact that Kamal Mehra (played by Anil Kapoor) is the guy who has sent Sunny away and he has come back with such a different perspective for his own daughter. Sunny's values are what I connect with beyond the script level in my real life. For instance, the Mard initiative that I have been doing talks about these things and for me, it was a nice extension of that and a great way of reaching the message to millions across the world through the film and that too, being an Indian man. Also, I enjoy working with Zoya and like the films she makes and how each character contributes to the larger story.
Zoya: We work in an industry where actors do special appearances and cameos, so it's not a great thing that Farhan has done by doing this part. If you give an actor good scenes and they are essential, they do stuff. When Reema Kagti and I wrote the character of Sunny, we thought of Farhan first as it is very like him.

Farhan, you are obviously aware that girls were going weak in their knees every time you gave your killer look to Priyanka in the film?
I honestly did not think of that kind of stuff, but for whatever it's worth, it's nice to hear. At the end of it all, the best compliment anyone can give you is, 'I wish there was more of you on screen.'

Zoya says that you can easily zip your mouth up. Is that being diplomatic?
Zoya: There is a beautiful quote that says, 'What other people think about me is none of my business.' That applies to him.
Farhan: In all honesty, with all things that I have nothing to do with me or my immediate family, I am not concerned with. For me, there is that one inner circle that is sacred to me. Outside of that, who am I to comment on?

Did you face gender inequality while growing up?
Zoya: We are really blessed as for us, there was absolutely no demarcation of being a girl or a boy ever. That was true even in our extended family. All women in our family work and everyone is independent. I was 15 years old when I got into college and started going out at night when I, for the first time, met other people and figured that as girls they were being treated differently from their brothers. It was a shock to my system. They would say, 'I am not allowed.' I would say, 'But your brother is coming, it makes no sense to me at all.' It was my first tryst with any kind of gender imbalance and skew.
Farhan: It comes from your parents. Your family environment makes your thought process at that core level.
When you see how your father treats your mother, how he treats your sister and then how you treats you, that's where it comes from. I would have friends who would party all night and they would get really upset if their sister came out. Or if they saw their sisters talk to a boy, they wanted to beat him up, whereas they were cool to talking to girls. It was so bizarre. That time I was too young to realise what was wrong with it and also this whole conversation about gender rights exists today, it didn't exist that time. Today, when I see gender inequality, it angers me which is what Mard is about. If you don't know which is the right way to be, then how do you know what is wrong. It really comes from your education and your family.

Farhan, do you have any double standards when it comes to being liberal with your two daughters or your attitude versus your wife?
In all honesty I have never had any double standards versus what men and women should do. To me, I saw Zoya getting as much freedom as I did which I assumed is normal to any person. I want my daughters to be safe but they are kids and we have all been through our adventurous times and no matter what as parents you say, there are certain things you have to be prepared for. But the fact is that they should not feel the need to do it behind your back as you have restricted them and that will happen if you communicate with them. When I met Adhuna, she had a job, I didn't, that's really where it began. And again the amazing thing about her is that she is completely independent. She has come here when she was really young and has built a business of her own and to me that is supremely attractive. Somebody that has that confidence in themselves and the ability to do it, and till now, she is still working and everything is the same. So long as everyone is aware of their responsibility to work, to family, to their friends, it's totally fine.

The film industry has too much discrimination between the male stars and the female stars.
Farhan: That is changing slowly, but surely. There was a time when if you just said that you wanted to be an actress, you would be considered having loose morals. And while the change will not happen overnight, the actresses today are doing very well for themselves. And not just actresses, we have female directors, DOPs, even editors who are doing so well.
Zoya: And thank God we have given up the law on only men being able to do make up. I honestly believe that actresses should be paid more. They don't get as much credit as they should, given that they are now even huge box office draws. It's always considered the male actors' films which I don't think is fair and I think they need to put their foot down versus their pay scales that versus male actors is very skewed. That discrimination is not there for a director or any other technical depart ment, as there it is based on talent or your experience.

Farhan, as a producer would you ever pay an actress equal or even higher than a male star?
I think I would pay an actress whatever she thinks she deserves so far as it works for the project. At the end of the day, there will be five actresses doing really well as far as casting goes. Also, actresses should make projects for themselves as it is completely viable for them to do so, just like Anushka Sharma has so successfully done in NH10. I will be happy if an actress produces a film and comes to me saying, 'Will you direct it for me?' I will happily direct it, but you have to have that ris -taking ability and belief in yourself. And as an actor, I would not have a problem if an actress is paid more than me in a film.