Shabana Azmi opens up about Javed Akhtar’s ‘beautiful’ romantic gesture that touched her: ‘He had gone through such limits…’

Shabana Azmi had once said that husband Javed Akhtar is not a very romantic person and for fans of the lyricist-poet, this was quite surprising as he has written many romantic songs and poems. In a recent chat, Shabana elaborated that both she and Javed, who have been married for nearly 40 years, are not romantic people per se but they find romance in the little things of their day. The Arth actor then shared an anecdote about an incredibly romantic thing that Javed had done for her 50th birthday.

Talking to Pinkvilla, Shabana recalled that they were once in London when she saw a sculpture by Salvador Dali and was instantly taken by it. Javed suggested that they should buy it but Shabana said, “No no, it’s too expensive.” She recalled further, “Then I think on my 50th birthday, I found in my bedroom that sculpture with his poem Waqt, which was written in a very beautiful letter. He had gone through such limits that I shouldn’t get to know (about the surprise). That was what touched me, the effort he put into it. Otherwise, I don’t value gifts of that kind.”

Shabana Azmi shared that when they are both reading and they touch each other’s hands, she finds that “beautiful”. “When both of us are reading, and we just touch each other’s hand, when we are totally comfortable with each other, I think all that is beautiful,’ she said.

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Shabana criticised the “marketing gimmicks” of Valentine’s Day and gifting diamonds and said that one cannot mark the value of love with such gifts.

At the India Today Conclave in 2016, Shabana Azmi had said, “I think the reason we are supposed to be happy is because we share such a warm friendship… But, I would like to make it clear that Javed does not have a romantic bone in his body though he writes so much on these lines.”