Shabana Azmi used to be distant from Javed Akhar; Says, ‘I did not pay much attention to him’

There are many power couples in the Bollywood industry, such as Ranveer-Deepika, Ranbir-Alia, and Shah Rukh Khan-Gauri. However, one of the most powerful and influential couples is Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi. This is not only due to the adorable bond they share even after 40 years of marriage, but also because of their outspoken nature on socio-political matters.
Both hail from artistic families with communist ideologies, and their union caused quite a stir among fans.For the uninitiated, Javed Akhtar was married with two children, Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar, at the time. However, the two eventually got together and tied the knot on December 9, 1984.
The veteran actress recently appeared on Arbaaz Khan’s celebrity talk show, The Invincibles Series, where she discussed how she initially avoided Akhtar, even when he visited her home to see her father, the renowned Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi. She had heard rumors that Akhtar and his screenwriting partner Salim Khan were arrogant. "Both our fathers were communists and lyricists. We had identical backgrounds. Back then, Akhtar had just started writing poetry and used to visit my abba (father) to recite his works to him. But I kept my distance from him because I had heard that Salim-Javed was very arrogant and to be avoided. So, I did not pay much attention to him," she said.

Her perception of him changed when her film ‘Sparsh’ was released in 1980. Shabana recalled that he praised the film highly and invited everyone who had worked on it to his home. He knew and remembered every dialogue and even the minute gestures of all the actors. "That’s when I understood that he had good sensibility. After that, whenever I sat with him, I felt that he was so similar to my father. I felt that he was the right person for me, and that’s how the relationship started," she added.