Mumbai: Veteran actress Shabana Azmi, while reflecting on her marriage with Javed Akhtar, admitted that despite being a feminist model, she ended up ‘stamping over’ Honey Irani’s rights for her own happiness.
“I was this feminist model. And I had done something that was inexplicable. Because it was like, with everything that I said, I was stamping over another woman’s rights for my own happiness. And I think people who followed me as a feminist had every right to feel that. But then, what I figured was that if I started explaining the circumstances in which it had been done, it would lead to much more hurt for the people involved and the families involved. It was better to keep quiet, and I think that was a very sagacious decision because after all the mud that was flung at me, it died down,” Shabana told Filmfare.
Talking about her healthy relationship with Honey, Shabana added: “That was possible because no mud was flung there. The credit for that goes to Honey, me and Javed. You’re in a big hurry to explain ki ye jo aap galti samajh rahi hai is ke basis dekhiye. But all three of us refrained from that and it was very wise.”
Before marrying Shabana in 1984, Javed was married to Honey, with whom he has two children — Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar.
Javed and Honey got separated in 1978, but their divorce was finalised in 1984.
In the documentary ‘Angry Young Men’, Javed shared that he is 60-70 per cent responsible for his failed marriage to Irani.
“Honey is one person in the world towards whom I feel guilty. And she’s the only person. About 60 to 70 per cent responsibility lies on my shoulder for the failure of that marriage. If I had as much understanding as I have today, perhaps, things would not have gone wrong. It’s very difficult to accept. But that’s how it is,” Javed said.
