Actor Javed Akhtar joked their marriage worked because they met rarely after revealing how he fell for Shabana AzmiJaved Akhtar was previously married to screenwriter Honey Irani. After the two separated, Shabana Azmi and Javed tied the knot in 1984. It is Javed Akhtar’s birthday today.

Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi share a marriage that is bound by trust, space, respect and deep friendship. The two have said as much time and again in various interviews. However, Shabana has admitted that she would have liked it if her lyricist husband were more romantic. Speaking on the show Rendezvous with Simi Garewal, the actor said, “Javed is never romantic, not at all. He is too busy being my best buddy to be romantic.”

When asked about the inception of their love story, Javed Akhtar said, “Much before I told it to myself, I was really fascinated by her. I don’t know why. When I didn’t know her much, then too she used to attract me. There was something about her that was always fascinating. It’s very difficult for me to decide what was the precise moment when I fell in love with her.”

Meanwhile, Shabana agreed that she too had started falling for Javed quickly after meeting him. “Quite soon after I got to know him (I was in love with him). Firstly, he used to make me laugh a lot, I used to keep laughing all the time. I enjoyed his company. I find him very stimulating, I find him to be one of the most intelligent men I have met, so I enjoyed his company very much and that, I think, led to love,” Shabana told host Simi Garewal.

Over the years, many people have wondered about the showbiz relationship lasting as long as it has done, and have even asked the pair about it often. During an episode on Koffee with Karan, Akhtar said there’s a certain tension in their relationship, which has provided its fuel all this while, adding, “If people are totally similar, there is no point in living together, because then one is enough. And if people are totally different, then also there is no point in living together, because you won’t be able to live like that. You need some similarities and certain dissimilarities, that kind of tension is interesting.”

However, Shabana had an amusing response to the deep question: “I think we meet so rarely, that is the reason for the success of marriage (laughs).” “And more than anything else, we are friends,” she added.

Javed was previously married to screenwriter Honey Irani. After the two separated, Shabana and Javed Akhtar wed in 1984. Akhtar has two children from his first marriage with Irani — filmmaker and actor Farhan Akhtar, and director-producer Zoya Akhtar.