September 18, 2007

Janam din mubarak!

SLP wishes a very happy 57th birthday to Shabana Azmi!

I've been thinking for weeks about what kind of special post to make on this day. My husband said, "It should be a gift to Shabana, not to your readers."

We talked about it for a while, and one of us had the idea that I should write her a couplet.

And so I most humbly offer my gift to Shabana ji, in hopes that she can forgive me for mangling her lovely language. I'm not aiming for greatness; I'm merely hoping it makes sense. Also I still can't write in Urdu script so Devanagari will have to do. Anyhow here it is:

अन्दाज़, जाज़िबत, हुसन, ज़हन, जान
इन चीज़ों से बनता है एक बड़ा इनसान
Style, grace, beauty, intelligence, soul
Of these things one great person is made

Ahem. Having got that out of the way, here's something considerably prettier for all of us to enjoy: a birthday slide show retrospective-type thing.



Happy 57th, Shabana ji, and many happy returns of the day. आप जियें हज़ारों साल, साल के दिन हों पचास हज़ार - may you live thousands of years, and may each year have 50,000 days! (That way you can save the world and make lots more films.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHABANAJI!!!!! Thank you for the joy, insight, and fire you've given all of us for so many years!

With all my love and admiration,

Susan Murphy

ANGELES said...

DEAR SHABANA,

I hope you start today the best time of your whole life. I wish you A LONG, HAPPY,FULL OF LOVE LIFE.

Thank you for always being DIL KI AAG... ATMA KI PUKAR.

All my love,
Angeles

fadista da mouraria said...

Still in time to join you all in wishing Shabana a HAPPY BIRTHDAY and hoping that she may have many more birthdays and make many more films and give many more interviews so that we can all enjoy and learn!