Shabana Azmi tells Twinkle Khanna how she avoided being ‘evil stepmother’ to Zoya, Farhan: ‘Didn’t try hard to be liked’

Shabana Azmi has said that the fact that she has ‘great respect’ for her husband Javed Akhtar’s children – Zoya and Farhan Akhtar – is something that has helped their relationship develop over the years. She also spoke about how she she didn’t push them into developing a bond with her when she got married to Javed in 1984.

Zoya and Farhan are Javed Akhtar’s children from his first marriage, to Honey Irani. In a conversation with writer Twinkle Khanna, shared on the Tweak India YouTube channel, she spoke about how she handled the delicate situation.

Twinkle asked her, “You came in a family where they were already a unit, and they love you, you’re their stepmother and they love you, unlike all the stories you hear of the evil stepmother. I scare my children, if they’re mean to me, they’ll have an evil stepmother who’ll run them over with a car… How did you make sure your relationship with this family and these children always stays in harmony? Did you have anything in mind, things that people can learn from, if they enter a situation like this, these are the principles you must follow?”

Shabana replied, “I didn’t push, and I didn’t try desperately to be liked by them, I gave them a lot of time. Of course, the fact that Honey was really generous about it, that helped. And the fact is that till they found a comfort level with me, I was there, but I was never pushing. And then slowly, because they were also, sort of… Zoya was around 12 at the time, and she was developing ideas, and I remember her being curious. I remember I had gone on a march for communal harmony, and she said, ‘So, why’re you doing that? As if by marching on the streets you’re going to establish communal harmony’. And then I explained to her that no, it’s a symbolic step, etc. So she became curious about what I was doing, and now, there’s never a demonstration in which I need Zoya and she won’t be there.”

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She credited Honey Irani for being ‘very generous’ even though she’d have been fully justified in ‘poisoning’ the children’s minds against her. She said that she is now extremely proud of both Zoya and Farhan for what they stand for, both personally and artistically.