'I fell head over heels': Shabana Azmi recalls the day Javed Akhtar 'brought the entire shop of flowers' for her

In a candid appearance recently, the legendary duo Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi opened up about the myths surrounding their 41-year marriage. Despite writing India's most romantic lyrics, Javed Akhtar argued that real-life love is a steady, evolving thing rather than the "aha" moment glorified in movies. Shabana playfully retorted that her husband lacks a "romantic bone," though she fondly recounted a legendary courtship story where Javed bought out an entire flower shop on a whim.

Javed Akhtar busts love myth

During an appearance on Mojo Story, Javed Akhtar couldn't pinpoint when he first fell for Shabana. He explained that love isn't the dramatic movie moment we see on screen—it's a steady, evolving thing without one clear "aha" instant. Shabana responded, “So he has busted the myth. In case any of you think that because he writes so many romantic songs, he must be a romantic husband—there is not a romantic bone in his body.”

Javed Akhtar's flower shop surprise

When asked about buying Shabana a whole flower shop, Javed Akhtar minimized it: “There is nothing like that, it just happened once.” Shabana jumped in with the complete backstory. “This was during our courtship days and we were passing by a florist. I told him the flowers are so beautiful, and he stopped the car and bought the entire shop. I just fell head over heels for him.”

Shabana Azmi's mom warns about Javed Akhtar

Shabana also recalled her mother warning her against poets and writers. She recounted, “Later, when we were not talking to each other, he send me a poem. After reading the poem, my mom said, ‘Mat phaso, a poet always traps you with his words. Isse dur raho’ (Stay away from him).”

Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar's fight trick

Though Shabana and Javed seem like the ideal couple in public, they confess that fights are bound to happen because they are strong, independent, and opinionated people. Still, they've mastered handling them over time. She explained, “We do fight. However, when we are really going to be nasty with each other, we have this magical word ‘drop it’ and we actually drop it and we get back to the issue after 10 days when we are more calm. It saves so much hurt, disrespect and regret.”Get the latest entertainment updates from the Times of India, along with the latest Hindi movies, upcoming Hindi movies in 2026 , and Telugu movies.”