During the peak of Zanjeer’s success, the media focused on Javed Akhtar’s growing relationship with Shabana Azmi, speculating about its impact on his marriage to Honey Irani. Consequently, Javed and Honey’s marriage began to crumble, leading to their eventual decision to separate. “I realised there was no point in living with a man who was no longer in love with me,” Honey was quoted saying in an article by MensXP. She bravely explained the situation to their children, Zoya and Farhan Akhtar.
In 1984, Javed and Shabana tied the knot, with Javed’s divorce from Honey being finalized between 1984 and 1985. During this difficult time, Honey focused on her children’s well-being rather than harboring bitterness towards Shabana or Javed. Today, Shabana maintains a close relationship with both Zoya and Farhan, even calling Honey ‘family.’ In a recent interview, she praised Honey for enabling her to build a bond with the two filmmakers despite the painful separation their parents endured.
Reflecting on her bond with young Zoya and Farhan, Shabana told Zoom, “It is because of Honey’s generosity! It could’ve not been possible if Honey would not have been so generous to share them [with me]. She did that from the time they (Zoya and Farhan) were children. When they got that from their mother and released that I wasn’t the ‘stepmother’ they had read about in fairy tales, it became so much easier.”
Shabana shared that she allowed her relationship with Zoya and Farhan to develop naturally, without any pressure. “I didn’t push myself on them and didn’t too hard. I just let it be. I let the water flow its course. It is a really beautiful relationship. I would give a lot of credit to Honey for that but also to myself, Javed and the children. Today, when you see us, we are like a family. She (Honey) is a family member,” she said.
Speaking on the emotional toll of separations, Shabana acknowledged the inherent pain in divorces. ““A divorce between a man and a woman — something written on a piece of paper — doesn’t change the relationship that they’ve had. That’s was my line in the film, Arth, where my character (Pooja) tells Inder (Kulbhushan Karbanda), ‘Kavita (Smita Patil) tumse woh bandhan chahati hai jo ek dastakhat se bhi toot sakta hai.’ Having said that, I do feel people are hasty in judging. Divorce is very painful for the three people involved, hence people shouldn’t judge. Aisa nahin hai ki it was easy, it was painful and every time there is a divorce, it is always painful,” Shabana recalled.
During Javed and Honey’s separation, Shabana maintained a dignified silence amid inquiries about her stance on feminism. However, she noted that neither the media nor her industry colleagues judged her harshly for marrying Javed. She continued, “Both Javed saab and I are feminists so my fans were startled because they saw it as a blow to the feminism they had associated me with. But at that time, I had two choices — either duck and say nothing or explain myself which would’ve hurt too many people around me. So staying silent was the sensible thing to do because obviously when people were saying, “How could you let us down?” “You’re a feminist! How could you do this to another woman!” the desire to explain myself was very strong but the fact that I didn’t, help the healing.”
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