Shabana Azmi reveals Farhan and Zoya are more comfortable with her than Javed Akhtar, ‘They started becoming friends with me’

Shabana Azmi has a strong bond with Farhan and Zoya Akhtar, Javed Akhtar's children from his first marriage to Honey Irani. In The Invincibles season 2, Shabana mentioned that Farhan and Zoya are now more at ease with her than with their own father.

“These kids were very, very young (when Shabana married Javed). Then they started growing, they started becoming friends with me. And today, they feel more comfortable with me than with their father. If they're exasperated with him, then they have to come and talk to me,” Shabana said.

She added, “I have a very beautiful relationship with Zoya and Farhan. And I really give the credit to Honey. Because they were really young at that time. It would've been the easiest thing in the world to take away the kids. But she didn't. She encourage them to come with us. And what I did was not overwhelm them initially. I knew they'd take time, and I gave that to them. But I really, really doff to Honey because that generosity came from her. And today, even with Honey, we share a really, really good relationship. I know that Honey has this confidence if she were to need Javed or his advice in the middle of the night, she'd pick up the call and he'll come.”

She attributed this harmonious relationship to the efforts of all three involved—Javed, Honey, and herself—in ensuring their connections remained positive.