Before fame, legacy, and power-packed poetry, Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani shared a love story that began quietly behind the scenes of Bollywood. They met on the sets of Seeta Aur Geeta, fell in love, and married in 1972 when Javed was still struggling as a writer. Their relationship lasted over a decade and brought them two children, Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar. But in 1985, the marriage ended—leaving behind a story not just of love, but also regret, responsibility, and emotional maturity shaped by time.
When a rummy game turned into a marriage proposal
According to The Indian Express, Honey Irani once shared that Javed Akhtar did not propose in a grand or dramatic way. Instead, it happened during a rummy game while shooting for Seeta Aur Geeta. She recalled that Javed was losing money at the table—quite a substantial amount at the time. He then asked her to pull a card on his behalf, and she unknowingly picked the one that changed their lives.
She said, “Javed was playing Rummy with all the actors on the sets. He said, ‘Yaar, I’m losing.’ Kuch 100–200 rupaye haar gaye the, which was a lot at that time, of course. Then he said, ‘You take a card for me.’ So, I pulled a card for him, it was a run card. And he declared, ‘You pulled such a great card for me, I think we are meant for each other. I’m going to propose to you. Let’s get married.’ That’s how it happened. But I should have realized, naa… juya never pays!”At the time, Javed had no solid footing in the industry—no house, no salary, and no certainty about his future. Yet he decided to take a leap of faith into marriage based purely on emotion.
A proposal that came with no security, but full honesty
The marriage did not begin with stability or comfort. When Javed formally asked for Honey’s hand, it was his writing partner Salim Khan who spoke bluntly to her mother. He said, “This boy wants to marry your girl but he has no home, plays cards and drinks.”The warning was real, the risks were clear, yet Honey chose to move ahead with the marriage. She and Javed built a family during a time when fame, financial security, and emotional stability were still distant goals. Their bond eventually shaped one of Bollywood’s most celebrated creative bloodlines—but their life behind the scenes grew difficult as careers rose and personalities evolved.
Life after marriage and the regrets that linger
Years after the divorce, Javed Akhtar spoke with honesty and regret about what went wrong. He admitted that Honey Irani remains the one person toward whom he feels genuine guilt.He said, “Honey is one person in the world towards whom I feel guilty. And she’s the only person. About 60 to 70 percent responsibility lies on my shoulder for the failure of that marriage. If I had as much understanding as I have today, perhaps things would not have gone wrong. It’s very difficult to accept. But that’s how it is.”Their children also carried emotional scars from the separation. Farhan Akhtar admitted he struggled with anger and confusion during his youth. He said, “There was a phase when I was angry with him. I felt betrayed by him. There were all those very normal emotions that I did go through as a child growing up.” Zoya Akhtar shared that healing took time and consistency.She said, “After the split happened, we ended up living with our mother, we ended up spending more time with our mother. But yeah, it took time to go back to normal with my dad. I think Shabana played a big part in creating that normalcy.”
