Shabana Azmi admits she and Javed Akhtar want to ‘kill each other’ after huge fights, but their friendship is so strong, ‘even marriage couldn’t ruin it’

Asked if her stance on the idea of love has changed over the years, she said that girls in the past were fed on romantic stories, but she was never like that, because (she) saw (her) parents’ marriage, which started with a lot of romance and then evolved into friendship.’

She continued, “So what I have valued greatly is friendship. And to have love without respect is possibly not even possible. For me, respect is an important part of love. Also, I believe in giving your partner space. I think it is important for people to have their own space outside of that love; otherwise, we can tend to suffocate it. But if you have a happy relationship, as I have with Javed (Akhtar), then it is one of the most nurturing relationships that can exist. 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.” She added, “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 Azmi and Javed Akhtar are among the most respected names in the Hindi film industry. They tied the knot in 1984. In a recent interview with Pinkvilla, she said that they have safe words to exit heated arguments, which has proven to be a ‘magic trick’. Whenever they sense a fight getting out of hand, one of them says ‘drop it’, and the other complies.