Debarati Sen (BOMBAY TIMES; May 18, 2020)

The nationwide lockdown might have started on March 24 for most of us, but Shabana Azmi had quarantined herself much before that. The senior actress, who was shooting in Budapest, went into self-isolation as soon as she returned to Mumbai on March 15. She tells us, “By the time I came out of self-isolation, the lockdown had already been implemented. So, I’ve been homebound for a very long time.”

However, she is not complaining. “The kind of gregarious person that I am, I never imagined that I could deal with something like this. But, the fact is that Javed (Akhtar) and I have never spent so much time together. So, that has been the positive side of this lockdown,” she says.

While staying safe indoors, the couple is using their time constructively. She shares, “Javed has been writing, while I am doing a lot of reading. I am going through some scripts, too. I have also been involved with the work that our NGO, which was founded by my father, is doing. So far, we have made and distributed around 22,000 masks along with dry ration, oil and sanitary towels.”

Shabana believes that Coronavirus has helped us relearn what we already knew. She says, “Apart from the importance of hygiene and sanitization, we have realised that we have to curb our greed. Many of us have cupboards overflowing with clothes, bags and shoes. Yet, we keep wanting more. This lockdown has taught us how little we really need. Success must be measured in terms of how much we can help others.”

She adds, “This pandemic has also highlighted the condition of our public health infrastructure. The divide between the rich and the poor has never been more stark. What has also been brought into focus is the plight of migrant labourers. So, we now have to think of a life that is far more inclusive and does not deal with just one section of the society.”