Shabana Azmi — who entered the film industry with Shyam Benegal’s debut film Ankur in 1974 — has completed 50 glorious years in Bollywood. “When I started out, I never thought about how long my career would last. It is heartening that I’ve still got my boots on and that I’m getting a variety of roles,” says the actor, who was last seen in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023).

Azmi’s cinematic legacy is also being celebrated globally. Last week, the actor was honoured with London (UK)’s oldest award, the Freedom Of The City. Additionally, the upcoming New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) in June will host a special screening of her film, Fire (1996).

“It is humbling that it’s all coming together at 50 years. It’s heartwarming that my work is considered worthy of respect,” the five-time National Award winner adds.

Reminiscing about the shifts that the film industry has undergone, the 73-year-old shares, “I remember this crazy situation where (late actor) Rajesh Khanna and I were doing the first page of a scene, not knowing what the dialogues on the second page would be.”

She continues, “We used to work on pre-production for a month while post-production would take two years. Cut to now, they spend two years on pre-production and finish shooting in two to three months. That’s how I feel it should be,” she ends.

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Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar are one of the most loved couples in B-town and the veteran actress recently opened up on the secret of her successful marriage. The couple, who tied the knot on December 9, 1984, will complete 40 years of marriage this year.

Shabana says, “Javed says that the success of our marriage is that we don’t meet too often and are both busy running in different directions. We come from similar backgrounds, our fathers were poets from UP and communists, and we have a common view of things. Considering these factors, people say we should have had an arranged marriage. We have a happy and strong relationship. He says, ‘Shabana is my best friend, and even marriage could not change her’.”