Shabana Azmi on Why Her Parents Opposed Relationship With Javed Akhtar

Shabana Azmi credited Javed Akhtar's ex-wife Honey Irani for her relationship with Farhan & Zoya Akhtar.

Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar.

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram)

Veteran actor Shabana Azmi recently spoke about facing a lot of difficulty in getting her parents to accept her relationship with Javed Akhtar. Akhtar was then married to Honey Irani, with whom he has two children - Farhan and Zoya.

In a chat with Twinkle Khanna, shared on the Tweak India YouTube channel on Thursday, Azmi opened up that her parents were not in favour of the relationship.

When Twinkle asked if it was difficult at that time Azmi said, "He was a married man, he had children, it was really tough. And that's why I feel that people shouldn't speculate. It's difficult enough for the people involved and then just for gossip's sake. And obviously, people are going to say, ‘You call yourself a feminist and then how have you got yourself in this situation?’”

She added, "I did have a choice at that time. I could explain my point of view, which would justify the action I had taken, but I felt if I did that, it would lead to more speculation, so I decided to go quiet. In time people will come to know, and that is exactly what happened. Now of this, the real good thing that happened, and I give Honey a lot of credit for it, because through it all, she never poisoned the children's minds against me. She would have been justified… But she never, never did that. In fact, she sent the children with us to London when they were really young, and that became a bonding, and it's to her credit, and Javed's credit, and my credit that we have such a healthy relationship with Zoya and Farhan.”