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Celebrity couple
Instead, here’s a marriage where the couple discuss various ‘isms’ (socialism, Marxism or secularism) over a cuppa adrak tea which Javed cannot make and Shabana loves. it’s another matter altogether that their rare disagreements lead to heated debates. shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar’s is a marriage of intellect, and like true believers in democracy, they agree to disagree. While possessiveness for the man and jealousy in the woman are considered inevitable and even prescribed in a romantic relationship, here’s a couple who thinks differently. Says Javed in an interview, ‘We seek love from one source, wisdom from another and companionship from yet another. Seldom does it all come from one single source. She gives me all this plus mental and intellectual support.’ And when constant
companionship like Siamese twins is considered a hallmark of intimacy,
shabana has her own prescription for a successful relationship. ‘Bumping
into each other, occasionally, at airports,’ she says, ‘is very good
for the marriage!’ |
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The world knows her as the inspiration behind Javed’s most romantic song, Ek ladki ko dekha toh aaisa laga. She was the narmi ki baat (gentle whispers), sardi ki dhup (the winter sun), resham ki dor (a strand of silk) and sandhal ki aag (a sandalwood fire). She, in turn, simply calls him ‘Jadu’—in her peculiar style with sparkling eyes disappearing into the crinkles. She is not the only muse in this relationship. ‘What I really value is when I have to write a paper and am stuck, I know I can depend on him to help me.’ For shabana, ‘Jadu’ is the touchstone for testing ideas and thoughts. it’s Javed who encouraged her to do the controversial role in Fire. He is the one who coerced her into Submitting Arth for national film awards (1982) and Fire for the Best Actress Award both the times. Javed’s katthai aankhon wali Time and again Javed just picks up nuggest from Shabana’s multifaceted personality and infuses them in a song. So we get katthai aankhon wali or Jaadubhari aankhon wali.... But the silsila began when they discovered commonalities in 1979. He traces his romantic couplets to the time he became close to Shabana. Dekha ek khwaab, the unforgettable Amitabh-Rekha song, was written in 1981. It was Kaifi-Shaukat’s house where Shabana lived with her parents that Javed met her. He would drop in often to talk to Kaifi after his own father, poet Jaan Nissar Akhtar, passed away in 1976. The son had just turned a poet, having written his first couplet as a homage to his father. in Javed’s words, around the same time, Shabana was also plagued by ‘thousands of questions about which she’d never thought earlier. it’s no surprise then that we were drawn closer to each other.’ Family friends There were poems, socialist leanings, and background in common between them. Kaifi and Jaan Nissar Akhtar were both revolutionary poets. They were also part of the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA). Shabana liked Javed’s wit, humour and his tehzeeb (‘He would never put up his feet before elders’). When Shabana decided to get married, the public was outraged. Here was a feminist, Shabana, getting married to an already married man. Javed’s divorce with his first wife Honey Irani came much later. Shabana herself defended her decision to the other ‘feminist’ in her life, her father, explaining that she was no home-wrecker and that the marriage was already over by the time she entered the scene. Still, reflecting on the early days of her marriage, Shabana said it was ‘emotionally wrecking’ for all the three people in the marriage and that she would not wish such a situation on anybody. — LMN |
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THEIRS
is not a conventional marriage where the husband and wife exchange
neighbourhood and office gossip, discuss in-law troubles and haggle over
buying vegetables.