Javed Akhtar joins Shabana Azmi at the Jashn-e-Rekhta stage in Delhi

Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi were back on the Jashn-e-Rekhta stage in Delhi to talk about their parents – Jan Nisar Akhtar (Javed Akhtar’s father) and Kaifi Azmi (Shabana Azmi’s father) – recently. The couple shared anecdotes from their younger days, narrated poems and spoke about their love story.

When the moderator, Yasser Usman, asked Akhtar, “Uth meri jaan mere saath hi chalna hai tujhe (from Aurat, a poem of Kaifi Azmi) – agar Kaifi sahab nahi likhte toh kya aap likhte Shabana ji ke liye?” Akhtar said, “Nahi, nahi, nahi..uth meri jaan mere saath hi chalna hai tujhe mera problem nahi hai. Mera problem hai ki meri jaan constantly do kadam aage chal rahi hai. Ruk meri jaan tere saath hi chalna hai mujhe (laughs).”

When Shabana took the mic to respond to it, the mic didn’t work. She jokingly said, “Shauhar ke saamne awaaz meri dab jati hai.” The veteran actress added, “Javed aur mera background itna similar hai. Humare walidein (parents) woh itne similar thay ki kaafi baar yeh kaha jata hai ki Shabana aur Javed ki toh arrange marriage honi chahiye thi.”

How Javed met ShabanaReminiscing his first meeting with Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar told the audience, “Log mujhse aksar puchte hain ki aap Kaifi sahab ko kab se jaante hain? Main toh Kaifi sahab ko tab se jaanta hoon jab se hosh hai. Log puchte hain tumne Shabana ko pehli baar kab dekha? Maine shayad Shabana ko pehli baar tab dekha hoga jab woh ek saal ki hongi. Maaf kijiye lekin meri umar bhi zyada se zyada chaar saal ki hogi. Aap mujhe cradle snatcher na samjhein! Toh ye hamara rishta hai.”

Akhtar said that even though they shared a common background, meeting Shabana was a bit difficult for him later as they had different orbits. He added, “Shabana Ankur bana rahi thi aur hum Sholay bana rahe thay. Toh kaise mulaqat ho bhai? Kaifi sahab ki beti hain itna main janta tha. Sparsh (starring Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah) ek picture aayi thi jo mujhe bahut pasand aayi thi. Itni achchi likhi hui aur itni achchi
performance thi. Director (Sai Paranjpye) se meri dosti ho gayi. Unke ghar pe bahut baar mulaqat hui (with Shabana Azmi). Dheere dheere dheere nateeja ye nikla jo aaj hum baithe hain.”