From her early days navigating the then-distinct worlds of art-house and mainstream cinema, to her current place as a celebrated actress, who is keen to explore roles across mediums, Shabana Azmi has consistently broken stereotypes and paved the way for generations of actors. In an interview with BT, she reflects on her journey, talks about the positive changes happening in Hindi cinema, and how she wants to have a choice of films to work in. Read on...

Shabana entered the film industry at a time when actresses were often just a glamorous addition to a hero’s narrative. Art-house cinema, while respected, was not considered commercially viable. However, the actress skilfully navigated both spaces, showcasing her versatility with every role she played.

She reflects, “When I started working, the fact that I was doing art-house cinema automatically placed me on a pedestal, putting me on the same level as Hema Malini. Had I started out in mainstream cinema, it would have taken me much longer to reach a certain level. When I began winning National Awards, female actors started feeling ki iss space mein kuchh hai. There is respectability. So, they began exploring.”

The actress believes the blurring lines between art-house and mainstream cinema have been beneficial for the industry. She says, “It has led to greater realism in filmmaking. I always felt, why should there be a division between the two.”

She adds, “The actresses today want agency because they have realized that something more is needed than just a role in which you are glamorous, pretty, and playing second fiddle to the hero. If you look at the actresses at the top, they are all playing substantial characters and that’s really good.”

Bring up how there is a certain homogenization of appearance in the way actors look on screen these days, and she explains, “These standards have been shaped by ideas of glamour we have now. So, the way your hair is done, the way your clothes are worn, all that is very similar,” she says. However, she believes there is a positive shift that is visible with actors embracing more individual and realistic looks. 

“I think there is a change, which makes me happy, as there is now an attempt at characterization that feels much more realistic. In the past, there were only two people – Zeenat Aman in western roles and Jaya Bachchan in Indian roles – who had distinct personalities, and neither wore wigs or make-up in a particular way,” she explains.

There is this belief that actors in our industry, especially female leads, are easily replaceable, hence, one needs to stand out in the way they look and the roles they choose to create their own identity. On that, she recalls how her husband, writer-poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar, has an interesting point of view.

She says, “It’s a strange thing because Javed saab believes it’s an anachronism. If you aspire to be a star, the audience expects certain things from you. They’ll feel cheated if Shah Rukh Khan goes through a film without doing his signature arm spread. Yet, he also has to strive to be different. It’s a dichotomy.”

Talking about her current selectivity in choosing projects across mediums, the actress, who was recently seen in the web series Dabba Cartel, says, “I am an actor, and I love to do everything. People have this impression of me being drawn to art cinema. Aisa kuchh nahi hai, I want to do mainstream cinema. I had a ball when I did Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. It also paid me great dividends. But I’m greedy and I want more. I want to work with all kinds of filmmakers. I want to work with both independent and mainstream directors. I want to have a choice of films to work in.”

Shabana also believes that she made an awkward heroine in mainstream cinema. “I was not talented in the mainstream scene,” she says, elaborating, “I couldn’t dance to save my life. I was very awkward because I had this notion that I was Kaifi Azmi’s daughter, and I was from St. Xavier’s College and if I ran around trees, what would my friends think? I had certain inhibitions that took me a long time to overcome. I am saying all this in retrospect. It’s not that I was mindful of it in the beginning, or that there was any great design.”

From Mumbai to Mijwan, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar’s relief work continues; migrants and 800 non-members of the IPRS also reached during the pandemic
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 4, 2020)

During the Coronavirus pandemic, images of daily wage-earners trekking in the scorching summer heat with wife and children, clinging to little bundles of what constitutes their entire life in the city, is imprinted on our minds. But for Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar, these people are not just migrants heading back home. “My domestic staff are all from Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal, my manager is from Goa, I was born in Hyderabad, my husband in Gwalior. The hard fact hits home, that almost 3/4th of the city’s people are migrants who had arrived in search of work,” the actress-activist points out.

And because the connect is immediate and empathetic, the couple has been doing their bit for those going through tough times. “I have personally donated to CINTAA (Cine & TV Artistes Association). Javed and I have provided 4000-plus meals in the city’s slums,” informs Shabana. Javed adds that the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS), a copyright society mandated by the government, has also been helping out its 3,700 members with rations and cash donations. Apart from that, he, along with Shankar Mahadevan and the music label Sa Re Ga Ma, have made direct cash transfers of Rs 2,500 per week, per person, through the lockdown to 800 vulnerable members of the music industry who are not registered members of the IPRS. This is being facilitated by the IPRS.

Meanwhile, back in Kaifi Azmi saab’s native village, Mijwan, relief work continues in full force. Shabana says that till June 1, the Mijwan Welfare Society was able to reach 50,000-plus individuals in 152 villages under 26 districts in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Delhi. “Vinod (Kumar Pandey, CEO) had left for Mijwan on March 6 and was supposed to be back in 10 days. He is still there, working closely with the authorities since April 2, to spread awareness and support the daily wage earners with dry food grain kits (consisting rice, dal, atta, soya chunks, sugar, salt, oil) and hygiene kits (soaps and masks). With transport networks snapping, people have been using their own cars to deliver supplies. I feel it is abba’s blessings that people have been able to overcome fear and follow this path,” asserts an emotionally overwhelmed Shabana, adding that till June 1, they have distributed 1,04,777 kg of food grains, 6,306 handwash soaps, 860 sanitary pads and 27,098 cloth masks.

Educated in the use of masks and social distancing, some of the village girls working at the Mijwan Welfare Centre, who assist stylist Manish Malhotra with embroidery work, have been making cloth masks on their 28 sewing machines. “They started out by making 7,000 masks in a week for chef Vikas Khanna, who donated five automatic sewing machines to enable them to increase their output. Thereafter, they have been taking orders of a lakh and above, and are currently targeting a million. This is not just great community service, but also helps keep them gainfully employed,” reasons Shabana, pointing to her “shining star” Renu. She walked the ramp with Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor at a Mijwan fashion show a few years ago and is currently training over 50 village girls in chikankari while pursuing a masters degree in sociology. “In the last 20 days, Renu has made more than 3000 three-layered cotton masks which were distributed to people from different villages in Azamgarh and Varanasi districts.”

She is particularly excited about the Rozgar Dhaba, a community information centre, where returning migrants and daily wage earners get help with regards to employment opportunities, government schemes, health initiatives and documentation, among other things. “So, while continuing our relief work, we have simultaneously started working on rehabilitation. We will have to become a more inclusive, more altruistic, less hard-hearted society. Mutual benefit will have to become the guiding principle. We must give till it hurts. If you give comfortably, it means you’re not stretching yourself enough. Let us not lose sight of the fact that the maximum work needs to be done during 'normal' periods, so that a natural disaster does not turn into a human disaster,” Shabana concludes.

Shabana Azmi on getting back on her feet after accident and working on an international project while under lockdown
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 18, 2020)

Even a lockdown cannot keep Shabana Azmi down. The internationally-acclaimed actress has just collaborated with Tony award-winning director, Michael Mayer, Italian author Erri De Luca and his partner, Paola Bisson, on a unique project. Titled Decameron 2020, it entailed turning 1000-word stories on the Coronavirus crisis by a group of authors from across the world into dramatic recitations. She has recorded Professor Tabish Khair’s story, which prompts the first question:

Why the story ‘River Of No Return’? What is your take on the current crisis, or as you say, the human crisis?
When I was approached for this project by Prof Tabish Khair, I said “yes” immediately because I was touched by his story ‘River Of No Return’. Also, the central idea that different authors from across the world use the lockdown creatively and get actors to do dramatised readings appealed to me because I feel creativity flourishes in solitude. In trying times like these, the artist must rise to the occasion and create sense out of chaos.

The great Italian writer-director, Erri Luca, with Decameron 2020, is connecting storytellers from all over the world—authors, journalists, poets and actors—to write and perform stories which grow out of our collective isolation. In this way, he is building a bridge, bringing together diverse voices and ideas to share their compassionate vision of this collective human experience. I have already completed my recording. Julian Sands, Stéfi Celma, Michael Alone, Pascal Greggory and Luigi Lo Cascio are some of the other actors involved, with production designer Richard Petit creating a virtual background for each story.

What was the process like?
It was challenging because I was working with director Michael Myers on a virtual platform without having ever met him—an inconceivable idea just a few months ago. I had to arrange for a green chroma screen, fix the phone on a tripod, arrange the lights etc. Mercifully, since my brother Baba Azmi is a DoP, he sent me the equipment and his colleague Ravi Vohra to help me. I’m used to big cameras and the hustle bustle of a shoot. Here, I was filming on an iPhone and had to okay takes on my own!

Are digital films and shows, dramatic recitations and online concerts the way forward in a world of social distancing?
Is this going to be the new normal? I hope not! I like to work with people around me, not in isolation. Both Javed (Akhtar, husband) and I have been giving talks, doing poetry recitations and participating in webinars, but I miss the adrenaline rush of being on a set with the crew and my co-stars.

Two of my projects have been interrupted because of the pandemic and two films—a feature and a short are complete, but on hold. But I’m being sent scripts so hope is not lost!

Have these weeks of lockdown changed your perception of life, made you feel vulnerable, restless or evolved?
I think a bit of all three has happened. On a personal level, I am grateful for the time Javed and I are getting together, but the plight of the migrant labourers trudging home on foot haunts me. The deep inequalities in our society, the fragile structure of our public healthcare system, the lack of social security covers send shivers down my spine. I also realise how little we actually need.

My wardrobe is overflowing with clothes, bags and footwear that I’ve never used, while a large majority of our people (eight crore have lost their jobs in the last 50 days) don’t know where their next meal is coming from. I read some beautiful lines recently, “We need new parameters to measure success—the amount of time we spend with loved ones and the number of people we help.” I hope this crisis will lead to a new world order, one that is equitable, just and in sync with nature.

Is there something you wish you had to help you through this isolation?
I miss my mother. I could have spent uninterrupted time with her. I feel jab tak badon ka haath hamare sar par hota hai, tab tak barqat rehti hai ghar mein.

Have you completely recovered from the road accident soon after Javed saab’s birthday in January?
I have recovered 90 per cent, but there is still some pain in my arms and palms because of the whiplash on my neck. Doctors tell me it will take another couple of months to heal. It’s a miracle I survived without breaking any bones. I’ve broken my shoulder, wrist and foot in the past. Javed says when he saw me covered in blood, he had his heart in his mouth till I reached the ICU. Mercifully, I remember nothing, but I’m grateful for all the prayers and blessings I received from all over the world, which had a big hand in my recovery.

So, when’s the next fun party?
I’ve been having virtual parties with my girl-gang every week! I’m ready to rock ‘n’ roll!