Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 24, 2015)

Shabana Azmi remembers Shekhar Kapur as a compulsive storyteller. "There was a joke in our family, "Bhago bhago Shekhar aaya hai, phir kahani sunayega!" That didn't deter him, he'd carry on undaunted!" she laughs, adding that he narrated the stories so cinematically, she was convinced that he'd make a good director even though he'd had no formal training or assisted anyone.

Devi Dutt, Guru Dutt's brother, who'd worked with her as production manager on many Shyam Benegal's films, wanted to cast Shabana in his first production. She suggested Shekhar's name as director and he debuted in 1983 with Masoom. It revolved around a couple DK and Indu (Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi) whose lives are disrupted with the appearance of Rahul (Jugal Hansraj), the 'proof' of DK's infidelity when Indu was pregnant with their first-born Rinky (Urmila Matondkar).

"Shekhar started with a long, complicated trolley shot to establish the hustle-bustle in the office where Naseer worked. It took several takes to get it right but the crew was visibly impressed," Shabana narrates.

A couple of days later, he decided to film the song "Huzoor Is Kadar Bhi Na Itra Ke Chaliye" without a choreographer and Shabana was aghast because Shekhar was not known for his dancing skills. She knew that having acted opposite him in Toote Khilone. "Naseer and Saeed Jaffrey were no Rudolf Nureyev either so I was certain he was on a suicide mission. He kept saying, 'Trust me, I just want them to indulge in some tomfoolery, choreographed steps will make the whole thing fake!' He was right. I saw Naseer and Saeed shed their inhibitions and have such a blast that the song continues to be a favourite even today at parties thrown by friends my age," Shabana admits.

Shekhar and Naseer hit it off really well and the children - Jugal, Urmila and Aradhana -- adored him. But Shabana wasn't entirely comfortable with her director. She complained to Naseer that he treated her like Dresden China. She argued that if he didn't like a shot he should say so upfront instead of handling her with kid gloves. He reasoned that Shekhar wanted his actors to feel protected and secure. "So don't force him to adopt a manner that's not instinctively his!" he warned. She kept grumbling.

She modelled Indu on a friend, Sushma Motwane, and visited her at home to observe her closely. "Delhi women are different from Mumbai women. I can't put my finger on it but it helped that I had a real person I could base Indu on," she acknowledges.

Bijon Das Gupta, a family friend, was the art director, and Shekhar encouraged her to personalise Indu's room so it felt like a home and not a set. "Have a box to put away your jewellery every night, a place to bring out the quilts from," he advised. She was delighted with a director who cared about details when dressing tables in mainstream films had the standard eau de cologne bottle, Ponds talcum powder, Charmis cold cream and black comb pulled out of the make-up dada's bag. Shekhar's ex-wife Medha was his assistant and in charge of the kids' costumes. She took pains to make them look authentic. Gulzar's dialogue was shorn off all artifice, with Shekhar borrowing the "You stupid" phrase from his nieces and adding it as a refrain the sisters, Rinky and Mini, hurl at each other.

Shabana confides she knew right away Urmila would be a 'heroine' as she danced like a pro, was always prepared, posed and sensitive. "The scene where she opens the door to find Naseeer and me fighting is etched in my mind. Years later, she played my daughter in Tehzeeb and confides in me like a daughter," she smiles.

The real hero was Jugal who looked like a beautiful wounded deer. Shekhar spent hours on the scene where he walks into the house for the first time. "Shekhar resisted the temptation of taking close-ups of the actors' faces. Instead he made me stand on the top of the staircase looking cold and forbidding, Jugal at the bottom looking helpless and unwelcome, Naseer guilty and unsure and the daughters awkward. The tension in the scene is palpable because the camera holds the frame in long shot," Shabana reminisces, saying 30 years later, people tell her Masoom is their favourite film. "Even kids like me though my character is so harsh with the young and innocent. I'm not complaining!"