Shabana Azmi said Twinkle Khanna she equally respects Javed and her children, didn't force Zoya and Farhan to accept her

Javed Akhtar is a proficient poet, screen writer and has married two times firstly he was married to Honey Irani but later the marriage wasn't a success due to personal reasons so he married Shabana Azmi in 1984. She says she equally respects her husband as well as the children. Zoya and Farhan helped them to bridge the gap and made their bond strong. She also says she never tried to forcibly develop a bond with her when she got married intially.

In one of the conversations with Twinkle Khanna, which was shared on the Tweak India YouTube channel, she talked about how she dealed with the fragile situation. There was a question answer round where she asked a few questions accordingly got the answers of the same.

Twinkle questioned 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 answered to it saying,“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.”

Honey Irani has been trying to take the children towards herself by manipulating them against Shabana Azmi. But Shabana Azmi is extremely proud of both the children for what they are today in professional and personal grounds.