Veteran dancer-actress Neliima Azeem turns 63, and still is coming up with new ideas and passions. She is setting up a Kathak school dedicated to Kathak exponent Pandit Birju Maharaj, and has also wrapped up a film.
Reflecting on her life journey with lots of “halts and turns”, she told Indian Express that her parents gave her the much needed cushioning, which helped her to continue her work and fend for her children, despite failed marriages with actor Pankaj Kapur, Rajesh Khatter and vocalist Raza Ali Khan.
“Though my marriages broke up, my parents were so amazing and so supportive that there wouldn’t be a better cushion for me to recover. I went back to dancing and Shahid (son, actor Shahid Kapoor) was always with me wherever I went,” she said, adding, “Despite having gone through difficult phases, I’ve seen huge challenges, breakups and breakdowns, that it’s been a roller-coaster ride, but by the end of the day I’d say that I’ve had a very enriched life.”
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Talking about her son Shahid Kapoor, she quipped, “I had a lot happening at a very early age. I had a beautiful career in dance and in theatre, and then I married young and became a mother at a young age. I was just stepping out of girlhood and it was the most beautiful phase, when Shahid came.”
Last but not the least, she praised her parents and my family, largely her children, and signed off by saying, “today my child’s children, my grandchildren make such a beautiful part of my life.”
