Zoya Akhtar (born 14 October 1972) is an Indian film director and screenwriter. She made her debut as director with critically acclaimed Luck By Chance (2009). In 2011, she directed the critically and commercially successful film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and won the Filmfare Award for Best Director for it. Zoya Akhtar was born on 14 October 1972 in Mumbai to poet, lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar and screenwriter Honey Irani. Zoya's stepmother is Shabana Azmi. Zoya is the sister of Farhan Akhtar. She went to school at Maneckji Cooper and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at St. Xavier's College, both in Mumbai. Later, she joined the New York University Film School to learn film production.
Her great-great-grandfather, Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, a scholar of Islamic studies and theology, notably edited the first diwan of Mirza Ghalib on his request, and later became an important figure during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 in his native Khairabad. She is great-granddaughter of renowned Urdu poet Muztar Khairabadi and granddaughter of Jan Nisar Akhtar.
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