Shabana Azmi says Javed Akhtar only had 27 naya paisa when he first landed in Mumbai

Veteran actress Shabana Azmi has recounted an old story of the acclaimed screenwriter, poet and director Javed Akhtar. Detailing her husband’s struggles, she said the composer arrived in Mumbai with 27 paisa in his pocket and only had a heart full of dreams and determination, which eventually saw him through and made him successful.

Taking to X, the Masoom actress detailed Javed Akhtar’s earliest days as a young man who arrived in Mumbai back in the 1960s and wrote, “On October 4, 1964, a young man arrived at Bombay Central Station with 27 naya paisa in his pocket and a heart full of dreams. And then life happened.”

She added, “He slept at railway stations and footpaths, went without food for days, but his belief in himself was his constant companion. At one of his lowest ebbs he told himself, ‘main yun hi marne ke liye nahin paida hua hoon’ (I wasn’t born just to die like this)…his talent, his resilience, his determination, his spirit and the support of his friends made him the man he is today – Javed Akhtar.”

Shabana Azmi is the second wife of Javed Akhtar, as he was previously married to screenwriter Honey Irani. After the two separated, Shabana and Javed got married in 1984.