A tale of two families

On the face of it Naresh Goyal and Javed Akhtar have extremely little in common, but the man who runs India's biggest aviation company and the writer-poet who gives wings to Hindi cinema share a solid friendship that has only deepened over time. Not only is Shabana Azmi the Godmother of Goyal's daughter Namrata, together they are proving to be quite a team as they steer the chikankari skills of craftswomen from Mijwan, the birthplace of noted Urdu poet and Shabana's father Kaifi Azmi, into the mainstream of Indian fashion.

On Tuesday, Shabana and Namrata helmed a spectacular fashion show by Manish Malhotra which featured exquisite Awadh-inspired collection with traditional weaves from the region - it was quite a sight to see Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar, Akshay Kumar and Ranbir Kapoor come together on stage to support the effort. But despite her involvement in trying to give Mijwan women an entrepreneurial platform and financial success, Namrata herself is seen as a reluctant heiress.

With Shabana personally mentoring and advising her on production ventures, her deep fascination for theatre and cross-over cinema suggest it's only a matter of time before she takes the plunge as a professional filmmaker. That she has a brother who is already being groomed to take over the family business does offer her that much more freedom to pursue her own dream, but then again there's always Javed Akhtar to lend her father a helping hand whenever he's faced with some tough business decisions. You mean you didn't know the lyricist is officially on the board of directors for Jet Airways?