Shabana Azmi (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 5, 2018)

I’ve always been told that I can hold a tune. In fact, my father (Kaifi Azmi) was really keen that I take up singing in earnest and today I feel guilty that this was one desire of his that I didn’t fulfi l. I remained a bathroom singer and sang in an IPTA play or two.

Over several films in which I’ve played a singer, I’ve enjoyed the process of lip-synching, but Morning Raga was an altogether different challenge. Rajiv Menon, the film’s DoP (Director of Photography) was pretty scornful of Mahesh Dattani’s choice of me to play Swarnalata, convinced that only a South Indian could play a Carnatic singer. Mercifully I didn’t know this or I would have been even more terrified!

Javed (husband Javed Akhtar) who really pushes me hard, told me that unless I could sing the long ‘swarams’ in one shot, there was no point in doing the film. I was a Member of Parliament those days and the young violinist in the film who plays my friend Ranjani Ramakrishnan, agreed to tutor me. She was very gentle with me and worked out a system which was unique. I relate to words so the notes ‘sa sa ri sa ri sa sa sa ri sa da’ became easier when she made me think of it as ‘sari sari sa’ because that was familiar. But Carnatic music is very different from Hindustani music and I had never heard it except in passing. It has a very strong grammar with mathematical equations and I really struggled hard. I would come back from Parliament and sit with Ranjani for three-four hours, then, throw up my hands in frustration and stomp out of the room, saying, “I’m never going to be able to do this. I’m going to ring up Mahesh and ask him to cast someone else!” Miraculously, the next morning, when I woke up, I would get it absolutely right and would sail into Ranjani’s room singing loudly and she would clasp my hands in delight. It was entirely due to her efforts that in 18 sittings I learnt the songs.

I was however terrified on the day we were to shoot “Maha Ganapatim” and went to the set feeling like a lamb being taken to the slaughterhouse. Ranjani was nervous too although she tried hard to hide it. It was as much her test as it was mine. After the first shot Rajiv Menon shouted from behind the camera, “That’s amazing!” And it was like a burst of oxygen -- I knew his mother is a Carnatic singer and to receive this validation from him was supreme!

But the main test was the final song “Thaye Yashoda.” Perizaad (Zorabian) and I would rehearse loudly in my room and Prakash (Kovelamudi) would join us with the violin he had practised for weeks. The three of us would make such a mess of everything that I actually saw young Ranjani sprout a few grey hairs out of sheer terror. To top it all, Javed was on the phone every day, enquiring if I had made any progress. I used to have my earphones on all the time. I sleepwalked through the acting part, obsessed with getting the ‘swarams’ right. Finally the big day arrived. It worked out to everybody’s satisfaction. I owe it entirely to Ranjani that I passed this test too.

When the film released I got a call of appreciation from Pandit Ravi Shankar. I was over the moon and pinched myself hard to check if I was dreaming. Then Shankar Mahadevan, Alka Yagnik, Anup Jalota called… The calls kept coming and I was overwhelmed!

A decade later, Aparna Sen who had heard me singing casually over the years, announced firmly that she was going to have me sing two songs of Rabindranath Tagore in her English film Sonata. I begged to be excused but she said the film was being made largely for the festival circuit and it was unacceptable to have playback. Finally I relented and said I’d try. She sent me the songs by Rezwana Choudhury, the Bangladeshi singer with a divine voice. I was in Chicago shooting for Signature Move and didn’t get any time to practice. But on the long flight back home, I put on my earphones and sang loudly, oblivious to the amused reactions of my co-passengers.

I was back on September 3 and the recording was scheduled for the 11th. I was shooting for my TV series Amma at the time and it was pure madness! Then, along came this Bengali beauty, singer Sharoni Sen. Her mother was a friend of Aparna’s and she had generously offered to tutor me. I took to her immediately. She dresses beautifully in cotton saris and has a Zen-like presence. She is much younger than me but she has infinite patience and is the perfect teacher. She explained the nuances of Rabindra Sangeet and made me fall in love with the music. She was a true guru but after the recording I knew instinctively that I’d just missed the mark and was deeply disappointed.

Sharoni wrote me a very beautiful letter trying to take away my sense of failure, but my husband was on my back again. “Arre manzil se ek qadam door ho… haar kaise maan sakti ho? Record it again!” Javed thundered. I kept saying there was no time because we had to leave for the shoot… And I kept cringing. After I returned from the shooting and we were dubbing, I requested that I record the song again and Aparna kindly agreed, perhaps because she realised how miserable I was feeling. Sharoni was with me in the studio, coaxing, cajoling and pushing. Finally it was done. It gives one a sense of achievement when effort and hard work pays off. But ask me to cut a disc and the butterflies in my stomach become as large as elephants. Na re baba na!

—The author is an award-winning actress and activist

Shabana Azmi has taken several stabs at singing. Encouragement for her latest effort might see her work on a full-fledged album
Yogesh Pawar (DNA; April 25, 2017)

Shabana Azmi’s command over Rabindra Sangeet in the recently released Sonata caused the staunchest Bengali critics to call it the “only redeeming feature in a play masquerading as cinema”.

Azmi, who’s currently in London, shooting for an English TV series (not allowed to give details, she says, when pushed for details) in London, points out how she had very little training in singing. “I had two lessons in August and four in September in all. All the credit goes to my tutor Sharoni Sen, who was impossibly patient and encouraging. Without her, it couldn’t have worked at all.”

An adamant Aparna Sen, who directed Sonata insisted, “coaxed, cajoled and even bullied” Shabana into taking the risk. “And while we had recorded the song earlier, the day we shot the scene I was emboldened enough to sing it live on sets. That was Aparna’s plan all along!”

Before this, Shabana indulged a bit of Carnatic classical in Mahesh Dattani’s Morning Raga. And this was way back in 2003. That experience was decidedly tougher, she admits. She explains why. “Because it was Carnatic, a genre quite different from Hindustani with very rigorous, mathematical notations. To hold the swarams in a single shot was very, very challenging. However, unlike Sonata, where I’m actually singing, in MR I was only lip-syncing. I had to train to ensure the close-ups looked convincing.” The prep came handy when she hummed the same composition in a film anthology for a short film called Riceplate in 2007, where she played a staunchly Islamophobic and conservative Hindu grandmom.

But the actress’s first tryst with singing came far earlier. She has sung three songs for Muzaffar Ali’s Anjuman (1986), in which she also played the lead role opposite the late Farooque Shaikh. She remembers how reluctantly she sang under legendary composer Khayyam saab’s baton. “Muzaffar Ali had heard me sing in an IPTA play and suggested I sing my own songs in Anjuman because the character I played is a poet and sings in the ‘tarranum’ tradition of Lucknow. It needed to sound untutored. I was reluctant, but Khayyam saab was very supportive.” She adds, “It was terrifying. The first song was recorded a day after I got married. Instead of going off on a honeymoon, I was singing at Rajkamal Studios.”

She remembers how tabla maestro and composer Zakir Hussain used Anjuman to try and get her to sing in Ismail Merchant’s In Custody (Muhafiz) too. “But I pleaded to be excused and Kavita Krishnamurthy was roped in for the playback. In fact, in Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, many assume I sang my own lines, but it was Kavita Krishnamurthy. You know she’s herself admitted my singing sounds like hers. So I’m not surprised most people thought it was me.”

She credits her love for music and singing to her lyricist-poet father Kaifi Azmi. “Though Abba couldn’t hold a note, he’d make me sing to him quite a lot and was very keen I learn singing formally. But I never got down to it.

Actually, both my brother Baba and I have inherited sur from our mother Shaukat Kaifi. Her family has always been musically inclined.”

On being asked about plans for her own album she says, “Javed has been trying to convince me for a long time now. The response to Sonata’s singing has been so encouraging, maybe I’ll give it a shot!”

Lillete Dubey had been waiting 15 years for Aparna Sen to call her. Two of three women who make Sonata get on conference call to share if the wait was worth it
Kusumita Das (MID-DAY; April 16, 2017)

Even as bromance continues to be a much explored trope among filmmakers, National Award-winning director Aparna Sen’s upcoming film, Sonata, seeks to break pattern. With three sixty-plus women as protagonists, the film, based on Mahesh Elkunchwar’s play of the same name, explores the interplay of relationships between three college friends played by Shabana Azmi, Lillete Dubey and Sen herself.

Had the director had her way, she would not have acted in the project. “But it was a deal-breaker for the producer, so I had to do it. He called it a ‘casting coup’,” Sen, 71, says, in a telephonic interview from Kolkata. As for Dubey’s role, the accomplished stage and film actress feels it was the “result of a conspiracy theory”. “You know, one of the most seductive things a director can say to you is that they see you as the part, even if untrue,” she laughs. “Everyone wanted me to be Subhadra Parikh. I was not even given a choice,” shrugs the 61-year-old, adding that she’d have loved to play Dolan Sen’s role too, which Shabana essays.

As Dubey had previously read and loved the play, she was familiar with the script. “But even if that weren’t the case, I could not have said no to a film about three women where I’d be working with Shabana Azmi and Aparna Sen. I had been waiting 15 years for her to call me!”

Picking up the poke on conference call, Sen retorts that she would have had a problem on hand had Lillete turned down the offer. “She’s a very attractive woman, in her early 60s. Her character is that of someone who wants to hang on to her sexuality — she has to be with a man. She is in an abusive relationship, but the alternative of that, to be alone, is frightening for her. She’s as much in control of her career as she’s vulnerable in relationships. Lillete in the role of Subhadra was a foregone conclusion, really,” Sen argues.

Interestingly, Dubey’s first detailed interaction with Sen was in the capacity of a journalist, when she had interviewed the director for a news channel. “That was years ago; we’ve known each other on and off. Thanks to this film, now I know her a lot more closely. Our sensibilities match. She is a voracious reader, is also fond of solving the Crossword and playing Scrabble like me. I admire her vision and clarity of thought. I remember for one scene, she said, no makeup. I made a feeble protest saying, that’s not flattering at my age. But she was clear that she wanted me to wear red lipstick, a red T-shirt and blue jeans and have smudged kohl eyes. She cracks down a scene to the last detail.”

Sen likes to ensure that her actors always meet at a workshop before she starts shooting. She did that this time too despite working with stalwarts. “[It’s] so that the actors don’t meet each other as characters for the first time on set. They know their own back stories, their motivation. We iron out the problems beforehand. That way we avoid the interminable discussions and flying tempers on set.”

For Dubey, working on Sonata reminded her of the Monsoon Wedding days. “After we were done shooting, I told Aparna, the biggest compliment I can pay you is that working for this film was like doing a play, because that is what I enjoy doing the most,” she says.

Sonata’s trailer has already clocked in over five lakh views. We ask Sen if she ever sees herself doing a full-blown commercial entertainer. “We all want our films to be commercial successes, because we want money to be returned to our producers, we want maximum people to see and appreciate it. But, if that means resorting to formula, then no. If I can make meaningful films and have them as commercial successes, which several of my films have been, then it’s fine.”

Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 12, 2017)

After crooning two Rabindra Sangeets live, the actress who is gearing up for a talk at the House of Lords, will have to take music lessons again to play Jaddanbai
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 7, 2017)


Even though Shabana Azmi insists that she is not a singer and only has a ear for music she managed to impress the late Pandit Ravi Shankar and singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan with her renditions in Mahesh Dattani’s 2004 film, Morning Raga, with the sitar maestro calling to tell her he couldn’t believe she was not a trained Carnatic singer. She recently sang two Rabindra Sangeets, “Aaji jharer raate” and “Sokhi andhare” for Aparna Sen’s upcoming directorial, Sonata.

“First Aparna casts me as a whimsical, childish, highly volatile Bengali woman, then she bullies me into singing two Tagore songs, live, on the set. It was the most terrifying experience and I could only do it because my coach, Sharoni Sen, tutored me so patiently. Aparna kept up the charade that we’d be recording in a studio till we were three-four days into the shoot and then revealed her secret,” says Shabana, who has still to listen to the songs despite encouraging feedback from Bengalis.

Now, Nandita Das wants her to sing for the Manto biopic in which she plays Nargis’s mother, filmmaker-actress-composer-singer Jaddanbai. “I don’t know yet if it will be in a performance with musical accompaniments or if I’ll have to croon live again. I’m already terribly nervous,” she admits.

Shabana is equally nervous about speaking at the House of Lords in London, on March 9, on identity and integration. She points out that its a relevant topic in today’s times when there is an upsurge all over the world about what constitutes identity. “There’s a huge struggle against forces that seek to make us toe the line,” asserts Shabana, who believes that in any country that claims to be a democracy, the bottomline has to be about embracing dissension and plurality. “You may disagree with another person’s opinion and are free to debate it hotly, but with words, not violence. Identity and integration are crucial in the wake of Brexit, Donald Trump’s win in the US and in Narendra Modi’s government. There is an attempt to make a binary out of what constitutes national and anti-national. In George Bush’s words, ‘Either you are with us or you are against us.’ I’m a proud Indian but that doesn’t mean I’ll say everything is hunky dory. For me, its ‘separate’ but ‘equal’ because identity is not a melting pot in which individual identities can be submerged. It’s like a colourful mosaic in which each piece retains its individuality while contributing to a larger whole.”

She has been to the House of Lords before when she received the Gandhi International Peace Prize. “It seemed solemn, sombre and intimidating initially, not very different from the awe with which I stepped into the Indian Parliament for the first time. And it was unbelievable to be getting this award from Vanessa Redgrave whom one has admired for years. But once I started speaking, I was more relaxed,” she reminisces.

She has Kavi Raz’s The Black Prince, releasing worldwide on May 19 in which she plays Rani Jindan, wife of Ranjit Singh, a feisty historical figure who wrested her son, Duleep Singh, from Queen Victoria. “I just won the Best Actress Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival for it but have yet to see it. It was a struggle speaking Punjabi and ironically now, they want to make me dub my lines in Hindi,” she laughs.

There’s another American production, Jennifer Reeder’s Signature Move whose script was mentored by Robert De Niro at the Tribeca Film Institute. “I play a mother who obsessively looks through her binoculars for a prospective groom for her daughter,” she informs. She plays a different mother, an Earth Mother in Idgah, a story by Premchand. There’s also a children’s film, Kalpavriksh: The Wishing Tree. “It’s a full platter of different dishes and thrilling,” she signs off.
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Meanwhile...

Nandita Das has confirmed that writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar is part of her next directorial, Manto. “Shabana Azmi is acting in it and Javed Akhtar is also a part of the movie,“ said Nandita. 

Aparna Sen, who is ready with her next English film, Sonata, on why she continues making films she believes in
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; January 15, 2017)

Enroute to the ongoing Pune International Film Festival (which runs till January 19) Aparna Sen stopped by in Mumbai. The Kolkata-based veteran actress-filmmaker is chairperson of the jury. She was looking forward to soaking in some world cinema and enjoying Pune's cool climes. "A shawl and a pair of socks should do fine, right?" she asks when we meet her at a coffee house in Juhu. "Mumbai and Kolkata are not exactly cold," she intones.

Whenever possible, Sen visits Mumbai to catch up on what's latest in her five-year-old grandson Haroon's (daughter Konkona's tot) life. "He has picked up Bengali, Hindi, English and Punjabi. But he prefers to talk to me in English. He refers to me as "mummum" - that's what Konkona calls me," she says endearingly.

Known for films like 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981), Paroma (1984), Mr and Mrs Iyer (2001) and The Japanese Wife (2010), Sen is currently in the midst of post-production of her next English film, Sonata, which stars Shabana Azmi, Lillete Dubey and herself. Adapted from Marathi litterateur Mahesh Elkunchwar's play of the same name, the film revolves around three unmarried women facing a mid-life crisis. Sen plays a professor, Azmi's a banker and Dubey essays the role of a scribe.

Ask Sen about dealing with two powerhouse actresses (Shabana and Lillete) and she laughs, "You mean were there catfights and ego tussles? Did they give me a tough time during the shoot? Not at all, we are far from that. We completed the film in 20 days in Kolkata. We were all so into the character that there was no time to do anything else."

Sen's association with Azmi goes back decades. "She calls me Rina. That's my pet name; only those close to me refer to me by that name. This explains my rapport with Shabana. And I call her Munni; that's what her folks have called her at home since childhood. She tells me when she shoots with me; it's difficult for her to shoot with someone else. Shooting with Shabana is pure joy. We discuss, dissect and she just dives into the role."

Ironically in the film, Azmi plays a Bengali character while Sen plays a woman from Uttar Pradesh. "That's the novelty as we stepped outside our zones. It would be given that I play a Bengali and she from UP, but our role reversal has just added to the film."

Azmi has also rendered two tracks in Sonata. "It's Rabindra Sangeet and when I told her she should take a shot at singing as well, she took it upon as a challenge. She coached herself and hit the high notes without taking recourse to a background score."

On the other hand, Sen has collaborated with Lillete for the first time. "Now I wonder why I did not work with her earlier. I would insist that her straight hair have that curly look to go with her characterization; now she's hoping to work with me again some day."

Sen's name is synonymous with arthouse and slice-of-life cinema. "I began as an actress in Bengali films, but when I decided to turn director, I clearly knew what kind of films I would make. I did not want to direct the same type of films I had acted in. I wanted to do meaningful films as a director. Films, I believed in, and not dictated by terms and conditions. It's my choice. This is what makes me happy, this is what I am comfortable doing. Or I would have continued to act in commercial films. I direct in English and Bengali as these are the languages I am comfortable in." At the same time, she does not consider Hindi films an alien territory. Sen did try fitting into Bollywood, but something or the other would happen and the project would not take off.

Sen points outs, "I think most Bollywood stars are wary of taking role decisions for themselves. There are too many people around guiding them and telling them about their image. When you relate a story to a Bollywood star they don't know whether they should commit or not." She is well aware that Bollywood is dictated by economics, rather than art.

Her last Hindi venture was Saari Raat with Konkona, Anjan Dutt and Ritwick Chakraborty. "It was part of the Zeal for Unity project and I hope the makers release it."

Like other Bengali filmmakers like Mrinal Sen, Buddhadeb Dasgupta and the late Rituparno Ghosh, she feels regional filmmakers are also known and have got their due. "Our projects are appreciated, have won awards, do the festival rounds. That is what matters to me. I love attending film festivals and travelling or take off to my Santiniketan home when I want to get away or pen a script."

Sen has yet to see daughter Konkana's directoral debut, A Death In The Gunj, on the big screen. "I have watched it on a CD on TV, but the real essence is when you view it in a cinema hall. She refrained from going on the sets or providing inputs to Konkona. "It is her project, but I know how Konkana functions; she had visually imagined each and every scene in her head."

Does she watch Bollywood flicks? "I have heard a lot about Dangal, I think I should watch it. The last Hindi film I saw was Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. I really don't know why I saw it. I think because of Aishwarya Rai as she was back after a while. But I enjoyed watching Masaan and Aligarh. Both were exceptionally good with performances to watch." A clear reflection of the kind of cinema Sen subscribes to.


Shabana Azmi, Lillete Dubey and Aparna Sen in the upcoming English film, Sonata

MUMBAI MIRROR (September 27, 2016)

Aparna Sen took to the social media to share a picture of herself with Shabana Azmi, Lillete Dubey and Sohag Sen from the sets of her English film, Sonata, asserting that "they are having a blast."

Sonata is based on Mahesh Eklunchwar's 2000 play of the same name about three single working women in Mumbai. One is a journalist, another a Sanskrit teacher and the third employed with a MNC. They had aligned themselves with the woman's movement but 30 years later abandon it to opt for marriage and kids. The play explores the theme of loneliness and bonding, solidarity that flourish despite their differences. Aparna will also be seen acting in the film.

Mirror had earlier reported about Shabana singing two Rabindrasangeets in the film. Aparna got her a coach in Sharoni Sen. "Sharoni has been encouraging and patient. Javed (husband Javed Akhtar) pushed me. When I'm terrified, I feel challenged. It was because of Rina, Sharoni and Javed's confidence that I was able to pull it off, that made me dare to attempt singing," Shabana had told Mirror.

MUMBAI MIRROR (September 22, 2016)

On Saturday, September 17, Shabana Azmi entered the Zee TV show, Ek Maa Jo Laakhon Ke Liye Bani Amma, which had taken a generation leap.

A day later, she leaped into a new year, ringing in her 66th birthday. Her new co-stars and the show's makers were ready for the occasion with a cake for her to cut. And the actress admitted she was touched.

That wasn't the only cake she cut though. Aamir Khan and his team had ordered one too which was presented after the preview show of his upcoming film Dangal she had driven down from Khandala to watch.

"We were at out Khandala home, Sukoon, to celebrate a friend's 60th birthday over two days with 21 guests," she elaborated, adding that the celebrations weren't over yet.

"I returned home to find 18 of my closest friends waiting for me. My best friend Parna had cooked a delicious Thai meal and I gorged on it like a pig, I've been on a diet for Aparna's (Sen) film, Sonata, and I broke it that day, guilt-free. It was a hectic but lovely birthday," she beamed.

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 13, 2016)

It's not often that Shabana Azmi confesses to being terrified. But the actress admitted to Mirror on Monday that she was recording two Tagore songs for Aparna Sen's Sonata in the evening and "I am terrified".

The English film which also features Aparna and Lilette Dubey and is based on Mahesh Eklunchwar's play of the same name, starts shooting from September 20 in a start-to-finish schedule. Shabana and Aparna had earlier collaborated for the latter's Sati, Picnic, and 15 Park Avenue.

"Rina (Aparna Sen) called me in Kashmir in June when I was shooting there for Idgaah. I agreed to do the film without even hearing the script. She is a dear friend and I enjoy her company a lot. I tend to behave a bit retarded in front of her—I don't know why she brings that out in me—and she scolds me but we love each other. We can be frivolous, funny, serious, political and totally supportive of each other," she asserted.

They have been doing workshops with Sohag Sen, a theatre actress and acting coach, so she can get the nuances of the character right. "My character Dolon is funny, warm, demonstrative and volatile while Aruna, played by Rina, is serious and restrained," she informed.

Aparna has bullied Shabana into singing two Rabindrasangeets, "Aaji jharer raate" and "Sokhi andhare" and even got her a coach, Sharoni Sen. "Sharoni has been encouraging and extremely patient. Also, Javed (husband Javed Akhtar) pushed me. When I'm terrified, I feel challenged, but it was because of Rina, Sharoni and Javed's confidence that I was able to pull it off, that made me dare to attempt singing," she admitted, happy that after the recording her director told her "You've sung with feeling".

Shabana is delighted that Aparna's daughter Konkona Sen Sharma's debut directorial, A Death In The Gunj, which will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, is getting so much appreciation. "I've read Coco's script. I gave Konkona the name Coco when she was eight, played my daughter in Rina's tele film, Picnic," she reminded.

Subhash K Jha (DNA; September 10, 2016)


Now, it is Ms Sen’s turn!