Still more on Koffee with Karan
Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar's appearance on Koffee with Karan. I can't stop watching it, and I can't stop talking about it. Can you blame me? It was a pure delight.
Daddy's Girl, in her astute comment on a previous KwK post, highlighted just about all of the best parts. I loved the opening of the show, when Javed sahib rattled off a list of serious topics, and Shabana ji exclaimed, "As if we're not capable of discussing anything else!" I loved it when Shabana ji insisted on expanding her rapid-fire answer about the advice she would give Sonia Gandhi. I loved the gentle ease - and the gentle teasing - between Shabana ji and Javed sahib. I loved the funny stories and the cuteness. I loved the warmth of their interactions with one another and with Farhan. And I loved the heels:
They can crush you like a bug.
But what I loved most of all was the uncalculated naturalness of the entire conversation. On another forum yesterday I found myself defending Shabana ji's uncensored remark about Umrao Jaan against the charge that it was arrogant and disrespectful of the other people involved in the movie.
Well, it was. It was arrogant, and Shabana ji's reaction upon having said it made quite clear that she knew she shouldn't have. It was unguarded, real, and completely endearing. I think Shabana ji does have a touch of arrogance about her at times. Like most people, she is a mix of different things, and along with that touch of arrogance there is genuine self-awareness as well. Her comments about the director who wanted her to play "filmi mad," or about Sanjay Dutt saying "please madam I have to go" - these weren't meant to say "I'm superior because I am so much more serious about acting than everyone around me." They were meant to say "Sometimes I lose all sense of proportion and need other people to remind me to rein it in."
In one show she both took things too seriously - the Sonia Gandhi comments, for example - and made fun of herself for taking things too seriously. Beautiful!
Because today is Wednesday, it's time for a bon mot, and so I'll offer one from the show itself, some words of wisdom about sustaining a relationship:
I think marriage is an every day adjustment and I don't think society prepares us for that. There is this rosy picture ki ab aise honewala hai (*) and then you never need to work towards it. I think you need to work towards it.(*) "that now it will be just so."
And finally, in a startling display of excess even by Sounds Like Power standards, please enjoy the following slideshow featuring the abundance of screen captures of Shabana ji that I found myself taking while watching the show.
Now who says Hema Malini is the most stunning woman on this earth? Maaf kijiyega, Shabana ji, lekin I beg to differ.
6 comments:
Very well said... watching the show, I did think for a minute about poor Mr JP Dutta, who must be less than pleased with her comment - but as you said, it was completely unguarded, and her honesty in a moment when she could've held back and tried to be politically correct does make you warm to her. She obviously wasn't trying to be catty or even critical, she was just being real.
You've captured what struck me about Shabana in the interview - self-acceptance, comfort in her own skin, to the point where she can both laugh at her own excesses (not apologise for them, as oftentimes we - especially women, are expected to) and 'own' her own hard-won successes.
No false humility, no insecure playing to the gallery. I really, really like that... oh, and I liked those boots too!
By the way, I love the banner with SRK (never would've thought to see his face on one of your banners!) and Shabana. Your caption is brilliant. Is that (the picture) from a Jet Airways ad?
Have u been watched the KWK season 1 with Shabana Azmi and Shobana De! this was also a very good show for shabana ji I am so delighted for ur bloag ! Shabana Azmi is the best actresses ever for me! Thanks!
Thanks for mentioning that, Aung - I have seen it, and plan to do a post on it soon.
I also think you have captured beautifully the spirit of Shabana Azmi in your comments about the interview. However, I don't accept that she was arrogant. Perhaps she was trying to be diplomatic when asked to give an opinion, which was spot on for me. We admire her for her enormous talent as an actor as well as the honesty and passion she has shown throughout the years. She doesn't give undue importante to herself, which would be stupid - something she clearly is not.
Oh, I may have lost a bet but certainly not hope!
she has commented about how muslims cannot buy property in bombay anymore. it was not like this before, if it was shabana would be living on the streets. activities by some of the community against the nation has made others avoid them to an extent. case in the point, right now kerala has no such problem. wait for some more time, and for SIMI to hold more bomb blasting training camps in kerala, and you will see people in kerala also want to avoid muslims living in the same area. sad, but that is one reaction of people, and if you want to blame them alone, go ahead and do so. thank god they are also not resorting to bomb blasts to get back at muslims, they are democratically avoiding them in a peaceful way, as a form of self defence maybe
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