Shabana Azmi
Subhash K Jha (DNA; October 3, 2017)

Shabana Azmi is off on a road trip across Italy that the formidable Azmi has undertaken along with five Gujarati friends.

Taking time off for a few minutes to tell me about her daring adventure, Shabana says, “I am on a 10-day trip to Italy with five Gujju girlfriends. When the travel agent learned that the average age group was 60 years, his spontaneous reaction was ‘Baap re baap!’ which is now the official name of the group!”

The Baap Re Baaps are carrying ample supplies of Gujarati snacks — theplas, chivda and chakli with them. They met up in Zurich, flew to Rome and then they were off to drive all over Italy. So, is this Shabana’s way of appreciating the footloose philosophy of her stepdaughter Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara? Shabana chortles, “Oh, Zoya has disowned us!”