Shabana Azmi on surviving January accident: ‘I fainted, it was a close shave’

Actor Shabana Azmi, who celebrates her birthday on September 18, has said that her road accident in January was a ‘close shave’. The actor was involved in an accident on the Mumbai-Pune expressway.

The accident took place two kilometres before Khalapur toll booth, according to Maharashtra traffic police headquarters officials. Within 15 minutes of the accident, a police team reached the spot. However, by then, first responders had already rushed Shabana to the hospital.

In an interview to The Times of India, she said, “I had fainted. I was told it was a very close shave. Because of the injury to the brain, I can say that I have a brain.” She said that she was back at work just 40 days later. She said, “Work keeps you going and you need to carry on. I received so much respect and concern from all parts of the world during that accident period and I think that’s one of the main reasons I recovered.”

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Her husband, lyricist and writer Javed Akhtar, in an April interview to Film Companion, had spoken about his initial feelings after Shabana’s accident. He was ahead of her in a separate car at the time of the mishap. He said, “Who could think we would have such a calamity. The accident that Shabana went through was really deadly. We were in the other car, she was sleeping in the car behind us and when this accident occurred and we went back, the first thought was ‘Is she alive?’ Because the whole car was crushed, had become a heap of junk.”

Javed added, “Somehow we took her out, she was unconscious with blood all over her face and it was only from the nose. There were no wounds but the whole body has taken such a whiplash, that it will take a little time to be totally normal.”

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