Farhan Akhtar had imposter syndrome after success of Dil Chahta Hai

For a person who always wanted to be a director his directorial debut becoming a superhit would be a dream come true One would soak in all the praises compliments and all the goody stuff But that wasnrsquot the case for Farhan Akhtar whose directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai became a cult classicOne would expect a 25yearold debutant director to be on top of the moon after his first film succeeded so well but for Farhan it was the opposite The decorated actor filmmaker and producer appeared on the latest episode of Sit With Hitlist and got candid about his relationship with success and coming to terms with itFarhan Akhtar on facing imposter syndromeWhen asked about the aftermath of Dil Chahta Hairsquos success and the rumours about Amitabh Bachchan sending him a letter of praise Farhan confirms it saying ldquoHe did actually send me a letter I still have it Its kept with me among many other important memories in my life He sent me a letterrdquoHe added ldquoNaseer Sahib sent me a letter as well after the film And that film received a lot of love from a lot of people And it felt greatrdquoJust then he makes a surprising confession admitting ldquoI dont think I was ready to deal with what was going to come post that film Because my approach to that movie was lsquoI want to make this film and thats itrsquo I had no idea of a career thats going to follow or this will be my first stepping stonerdquoldquoBut it went well and people were extremely gracious after that But I was very lost I didnt know what to do next because I had no plan of what to dordquo he adds before continuing ldquoI dont think I was well prepared for its success Not that I became arrogant or none of that stuff happened But I didnt know how to deal with it For the longest time I would deflect any kind of compliment or praise or anything that kind of came my way about anything I would always underplay it and kind of just move it and not really just take it in and be like lsquookay wow something amazing has happened Let me enjoy itrsquordquoFarhan reveals he didnrsquot quite understand that it was like that Trying to figure out he adds ldquoMaybe I dont know whether my opinion of self at that point was not that great It took me a while to be able to really come around to beginning to enjoy the post aspects of a film if the film did well I would just kind of dive straight back into whats next I would find that a part of me found that frivolous It doesnt anymore But at that point I felt like I didnt know if I deserved it Thats imposter syndrome slightly So Id be very embarrassed with that stuffrdquoFarhan Akhtar reveals THIS actress helped him get over itThe 120 Bahadur actor reveals it took him over a decade to come to terms with success and that it was his costar Vidya Balan who helped him He shared ldquoYou know the person who really helped me deal with it weirdly enough was Vidya Balan When I was working with her on Shadi Ke Side EffectsrdquoHe adds ldquoIn 2013 I started being able to deal with it properly because it was on the back of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag And again everybody was saying wonderful things about the film the performance And she noticed that I would almost do unconsciously that if somebody started speaking to me about Bhaag Milka I would start talking about the scene or start talking about their filmHe reveals how Vidya after observing him confronted him saying ldquoDo you have a problemrdquo She questioned him ldquoIf somebodys coming and telling you they like your film and your work is really good why cant you just smile say thank you feel happyrdquoFarhan reveals how the very thought of it made his toes curl but Vidya was adamant about making him do it He shares that while they spent more time together while working and promoting the film he would realise she was around and accept compliments out of fearHe then adds ldquoAnd then slowly but surely I realised that it has a nice effect on the other person it feels warm and it feels good I used to come across as very snobby and cold because I used to like to be embarrassed about itrdquo