Shabana Azmi on her relationship with Javed Akhtar: ‘We have huge fights and want to kill each other’

Shabana Azmi opened up about her relationship with her husband Javed Akhtar and their ‘huge fights’ but still how they share a strong friendship.

Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar have been married since 1984. In a new interview, when Shabana was asked about her definition of love and her equation with Javed, the acclaimed actor said that they have 'huge fights' and 'want to kill each other' but they also have a lot of respect for one another. (

Javed Akhtar with Shabana Azmi in an old photo the actor had posted on Instagram.

Earlier this year, Shabana had shared a rare family photo on her Instagram, where she posed with Javed Akhtar and his children, Zoya Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar and his wife, actor Shibani Dandekar. Javed's first wife Honey Irani was also seen in the photo. Sharing the photo, Shabana had written in the caption, “Hum sab saath saath hain (We are all together).”

Shabana on the definition of romance

Javed was earlier married to screenwriter Honey Irani and shares two children with her – actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar and filmmaker Zoya Akhtar. Now, in an interview with Filmfare, when Shabana was asked whether her definition of love has evolved over the years, the actor said, "I was never a romantic, to begin with. I find that young girls, maybe today it has changed today, but young girls during my era had great ideas about romance. It would be fed on the fairytales, storybooks, and all the little cartoon books they would read. But I was never like that because I saw my parents’ marriage, which started with a lot of romance and then evolved into friendship. So what I have valued greatly is friendship."

Shabana says she has huge fights with Javed Akhtar

Further detailing her relationship with Javed, she added, "Javed and I have huge fights and want to kill each other but at the end of the day, respecting the other person is important. We have the same worldview. We were children of parents who were so similar that we should have had an arranged marriage. Both our fathers were poets, they were both from communist parties and they were both Hindi film lyricists. There’s a lot of friendship between us. Javed is fond of saying that Shabana is my best friend. And this friendship is so strong that even marriage could not ruin it."

Shabana was last seen in the 2022 movie What's Love Got to Do With It? directed by Shekhar Kapur. She will be next seen in Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani which is eyeing a July release. The first look poster of the film was shared recently.