"He deserves it...I would like to congratulate him and his family," Akhtar told reporters here at an event.
Pran, who acted in over 400 films in his six-decade career, retired from acting in 1998.
"He has worked for so many years and with almost all actors. He has been influential, inspirational for others," said Akhtar, whose father Javed Akhtar was the co-writer of `Zanjeer' in which Pran played the iconic role of Sher Khan.