PTI  | inputs by Onkar Kulkarni (BOMBAY TIMES; November 24, 2019)

On Friday, veteran theatre and film actor Shaukat Kaifi passed away at her residence after suffering a cardiac arrest. The 93-year-old was unwell for a while. She is survived by daughter Shabana Azmi and son Baba Azmi. Kaifi’s son-in-law, veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar, who is in the US, said, “She was 93, and she was having one problem after another. She was admitted to the hospital, for certain days she was in the ICU and then she was out of ICU. It was all age-related. Ultimately, they brought her home. She wanted to come back to her own room, she stayed for a day or two and then passed away. Shabana is in Mumbai."

Tabu, Urmila Matondkar, Divya Dutta, Satish Kaushik and Boney Kapoor were among the film industry people, who visited the family to pay their last respects. Shaukat Kaifi was married to renowned Urdu poet and lyricist Kaifi Azmi, who passed away in 2002. She had also penned a memoir titled Kaifi and I. The theatre veteran has been part of films including Heer Ranjha (1970), Faslah (1974), Garam Hava (1974), Umrao Jaan (1981), Bazaar (1982) and Salaam Bombay! (1988) among others.

Remembering Kaifi, filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, who directed her in Umrao Jaan, said, “Shaukat had the versatility and guts to reinvent herself. Be it her role in Umrao Jaan or Anjuman (1986), she was so different in every character. She would always get nervous before her shot, but on the set, she used to be extremely bindaas. She had an amazing sense of humour and would often joke around with the cast and crew. The last time I met her was a year ago. I have many fond memories of her. Our birthdays were just a day apart and we often celebrated them together at each other’s homes in Juhu. Also, I remember that she had immaculate taste in sarees, and had a beautiful collection of handwoven, handspun sarees. I never saw her repeating them.”

Recalling a fond memory, Divya Dutta, who is close to the family, said, “Many years ago, I was shooting in a bad network zone in Rajasthan when I received a call from Shabana ji saying someone wants to talk to me. It was Shaukat aapa, who she passed the phone to. She had just seen Delhi-6 (2009) and had called me to talk about my performance. She told me, ‘Mujhe lagahi nahi ki tum actor ho, mujhe laga wahin se le aaye hain tumhein.’ She spoke to me with so much warmth that it felt like she knew me forever. From thereon, my bond with her became strong. I was invited to all the celebrations and special occasions. She had been unwell, but that smile and glint in her eyes was constant. I think very rarely do you have people who have seen it all, fought it all and yet have this incredible grit, grace and warmth, and Shaukat aapa was one of them. She was full of life. I think Shabana ji is a mirror image of her. Their relationship was so beautiful. I could relate to it because I too was very close to my mother.”