Multi-starrer in the works?

News like this is always tenuous - a lot can happen when a movie is still in the early planning stages, and this one may never come to be (or may come to be without Shabana ji).  That said, IBN reports that Nikhil Advani is planning a multi-star masala flick whose cast includes Shabana Azmi, Madhuri Dixit, Dimple Kapadia, Karisma Kapoor, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta, Deepika Padukone, and Genelia D'Souza. 

The first three on that list have long been my dream cast for some movie - any movie, really - and for them alone I am excited by this news.  But, who knows how many of these are signed - they could just be the actors Advani has in mind as he works on the script.  

Advani claims it's not a "women-centric" film (I am really starting to despise that term, and if I can organize my thoughts as to why I'll publish something about it on Filmi Geek one of these days).  He says there are just as many male stars, but the article doesn't include any hint of who they might be. 

Stay tuned ...

Stills from Midnight's Children

Salman Rushdie has posted stills from Deepa Mehta's upcoming adaptation of his book Midnight's Children to an album on Facebook.

Looking great!  I'm pleased at the thought of Shabana ji working with Deepa Mehta again ... cautiously optimistic about this one.

News about *It's a Wonderful Afterlife*

Hello folks! Some of you might have noticed I've posted a few reviews at Filmi Geek in the last couple of weeks. I am still getting into the flow of my new job and still trying to balance the various interests tugging on my time, so I don't want to promise too much and then fail to deliver. That's why I haven't tried to return to a regular posting schedule here.

However: this was too interesting not to share, and maybe it's the kick-start I need to get back to glancing at the news about Shabana Azmi every day and sharing the best of it with you.

Some of you probably know that Shabana ji is working on a film with director Gurinder Chadha (who made Bend It Like Beckham, among others). The new film is called It's a Wonderful Afterlife. I've been alerted to a Live Journal page carrying an IBN piece on the film, which includes short clips of interviews with Ms. Chadha and Shabana ji, among others. The movie looks very funny; I'm looking forward to finding out more, and looking forward also to Shabana ji being in a film that is sure to find wide art-house distribution and buzz in the U.S.

Click here to load the page and watch the video. And thanks to Gauri at BollyWHAT for the heads-up.

Incidentally that Live Journal page seems to for fans of Sendhil Ramamurthy, the good-looking fellow who plays the irredeemably stupid Mohinder Suresh in the television series Heroes. It will be interesting to see how he'll do sharing the screen with Shabana ji.

Nahiiiiin!

Imagine [me] being a mother and holding a thali and then saying, "Nahi!" and dropping the thali. If this were the case, I would have packed up and gone a long time ago.

-- Shabana Azmi

Source: A new interview in the Times of India. I am, just like Shabana ji, very grateful that directors are finding more interesting roles for her than thali-dropping, "nahin"-yelling, distraught mothers.

In the interview Shabana Ji also talks about Farhan Akhtar's new movie Rock On (she loves it) and his rock-star predilections; about her television talent contest Kaun jeetega Bollywood ka Ticket; and about doing comedy.

In fact the most interesting portion of the interview may be this:

She was in Delhi to shoot for Anubhav Sinha’s Rajdhani Express, which she describes as “a completely mad film. It is a political satire on the lines of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. In fact, Anubhav, who has written it, says that it is his ode to Jaane Bhi...”

I had not thus far encountered very much news about Anubhav Sinha's political satire, so this is quite nice to see. As always, more news when it's available.

The very lovely picture above also comes from the Times of India piece.

First look at Sorry Bhai

Glamsham has a little piece about Onir's Sorry Bhai, in which Shabana Azmi is again paired with Boman Irani. It includes the first still I've seen from the film, reproduced above. There is still no release date, though the article says "next year." I was hoping for a fall 2008 release.

A mother role in a Karan Johar film?

A couple of years ago on Koffee with Karan, Shabana Azmi told Karan Johar that she would not have wanted any of the roles Jaya Bachchan played in his movies, because the women were doormats with no discernible character arc. Today, though, comes a rumor that Karan Johar has finally come up with a role that piqued Shabana ji's interest.

The word from "Bollywoodz.net" is that Shabana ji has signed on to play Shah Rukh Khan's mother in Johar's next, Khan, a film about the persecution and isolation experienced by Muslims after the 9/11 attacks. According to the article:

When contacted to confirm her presence in the film, Shabana just laughed and said, "Main chup rahungi."

That is, "no comment." But Bollywoodz.net is one of those innumerable worthless aggregators that auto-copy content from other places without attribution, so I can offer no odds on the truth of this item. As always I'll keep an eye out and let you know when I hear about this from a reputable source, or indeed any identified source at all. UPDATE: Here's the same story in the Mumbai Mirror, this time with a byline - Subhash K. Jha. Jha is an obsequious hack, but stars do seem to answer his calls, so if he says he talked to Shabana Azmi he probably did.

If you haven't voted in the June poll over on the right, though, consider Khan one of the choices - use the "other" button and let us know in the comments on the poll's introductory post.

June poll: most anticipated upcoming project?

Here we are, ten days into the month, and I remain completely without inspiration for a poll topic. So instead of something clever and interesting I have resorted to the very dull question: which of Shabana Azmi's upcoming projects are you looking forward to the most?

Here is a rundown of the choices with links to where they were discussed on SLP.

Kalpvriksh: Manika Sharma's fairy tale, ready for release later this year. No word yet on Shabana ji's role, but the film looks promising and cute.

Sorry Bhai: Onir's romantic comedy, also expected later this year. The return of the popular pair of Shabana Azmi and Boman Irani makes this one too promising to miss.

Hamlet adaptation: Another Onir project, recently announced; I have my doubts about this one but will keep an open mind.

Benazir Bhutto biopic: Mahesh Bhatt's production hit some setbacks, and I never heard whether Shabana ji was in consideration for Robert Redford's Hollywood version. But the latest news on this was that something was going on that Shabana ji was not talking about.

Anubhav Singh satire: This only came up once, but so tickled am I by the prospect of Shabana Azmi in a political satire that I had to include it in the poll.

Other: if you browse the upcoming films section of SLP you will see lots of rumors and speculation of projects that don't pan out. Maybe some of these are simply shelved and will emerge, renewed, at a later time. If your most anticipated Shabana ji film is one of these, or even something else that I've missed, choose "other" and let us know in the comments.

In other news, I'd like to send out once more my desperate appeal: send me guests posts, folks, please. I want you to contribute to SLP. I can't be the only person on Earth whose keyboard is busting out to talk about Shabana Azmi. Send me your essays, reviews, comments, poetry, whatever. I will post them anonymously if you like. Just write to me at filmigeek at comcast dot net and get yourself heard on SLP.

Kalpvriksh (The Wish Tree)

Thanks to Aung for bringing this big news to my attention. Shabana Azmi is in a kids' film called Kalpvriksh, directed by Manika Sharma. The film looks like it will be ready for release later this year.

The film's official website offers just a little information but it sounds like a very interesting project, potentially very enchanting and delightful. Here's the basic outline of the story, from the website:

KalpVriksh – THE WISH TREE is a magical, inspirational and an extremely entertaining story of five children in a hill-station who come together to save their ‘wishing tree’ (KALPVRIKSH) from being cut by vested interests. The film is extremely lively, entertaining, endearing and engrossing so that the underlying message to protect trees and environment is seamlessly driven home.

Also piquing my interest is the description of the films songs, which sound they have very thoughtfully crafted and lush visuals:

The Earth song is a colorful collage of images to tell the story of the Earth’s evolution. As we travel over snow capped mountain peaks to gushing waterfalls and rivers, pupae turn into butterfly and a giant dragonfly flaps its wings across the sky over a dense tropical forest.

Dhanua’s dhaba song is his fantasy on the other side of life, where his abusive and exploitative owner, Shankar dada transforms into a sorrier version of Dhanua in rags and Dhanua becomes the Don (the underworld King) of the dhaba, flashing a white three piece suit and a red shining car. This song is in theatrical genre.

Nikita’s concert song on stage as a rock-star is complete showbiz. It’s the opening song of the film and resembles a Michael Jackson concert in which the fans are fainting with awe and adrenalin is running high.

The celebration of the tree song is vibrant and has the raw energy of nature. It throbs with life. The tree sways from side to side and dances, shivers and gurgles like a baby with the children. The Wishing tree is happy to come back to life after thousands of years with the love and faith of the children.

KALPVRIKSH is a very visual film. All the scenes in the film are color-coded, they fall within a certain scheme of colors according to the mood and inner journey of the characters. For instance Sean’s room is blue, reflecting his state of mind. He misses his father constantly.

The cast is also listed on the website, and in addition to Shabana ji includes Saurabh Shukla, Makrand Deshpande (who was so wonderful in another kids' movie that Shabana ji was in, Makdee), and others, as well as a guest appearance by Shah Rukh Khan. I am very excited to hear more about this project and I will of course keep you posted. Between this one and Sorry Bhai, the second half of 2008 should be a good one for Shabana films.

O, what a rash and bloody deed is this

This news report comes from a very questionable source, and I won't believe it until I see it printed elsewhere, but: According to this sketchy downloads blog, Onir's next film will be an adaptaion of Hamlet in which Shabana Azmi plays Queen Gertrude and Boman Irani, Polonius. Sounds appealing, but as I said, I reserve credulity on this one.

Onir has just finished Sorry Bhai with Shabana ji, Boman sahib, Chitraganda Singh, Sanjay Suri, and Sharman Joshi, and we should have some pre-release news on that in the near future.

UPDATE: Here is the story from a somewhat more established source, Hindustan Times, who report that Siddharth and Soha Ali Khan are playing Hamlet and Ophelia. I have to say I am not convinced this is such a hot idea, but we'll see what happens as the story unfolds.

Why they love her

"[Shabana Azmi] brings out the best in you and raises your performing level without even making you realize she's doing it. She carries a scene beyond the written word."

-- Chitraganda Singh. (Source.)

Chitraganda Singh stars with Shabana ji in Onir's upcoming film Sorry Bhai along with Sanjay Suri, Boman Irani, and Sharman Joshi. And she is now one of a long line of young actors who have had high praise for Shabana ji as a co-star and a mentor.

"Shabana is the most fun person."

-- Onir. (Source.)

Onir confirms that Shabana ji is a director's actor; while she sometimes has strong opinions about the way a scene should unfold, she will express her view and then defer to the director's judgment. Onir talks about that here.

"My lips are sealed."

I mentioned in my previous post that Shabana Azmi is not talking about whether there is a Benazir Bhutto bio-pic in the works. Here is a nice little Reuters video on that subject. Thanks to fadista di mouraria and the other readers who brought it to my attention.

The video also mentions Shabana ji's rumored association with a film about the founding of Bangladesh, a rumor Shabana ji denies. "I have no idea," she says; "I heard about it on television like all of you did."

Greetings, and roundup

My apologies for the unannounced hiatus, folks - a month has gotten away from me as I have been focused on projects unrelated to Hindi films (one of which, sadly, is my job). But I'm not happy with those priorities and don't want to let that happen again.

In the meantime, Shabana Azmi has been as busy as I have and so there is a lot of news to catch up on. Here's a roundup of some of the news from the last month.

• Not much news on the possibility of a Benazir Bhutto biopic -TimesNow reports that there is something in the works, but Shabana ji won't talk about it.
  

• There are some vague reports, though, like this one from the Press Trust of India, that Shabana ji is involved in a film about the founding of Bangladesh, to be directed by Shyam Benegal, in English. I'll keep an eye out for more on this interesting-sounding project.
  

• There was news some time back that Shabana ji was involved in a project with director Rituparno Ghosh. But this report by Subhash K. Jha says that Ghosh has decided to make the film in Bengali instead and dropped the Hindi cast. I can't say I'm unhappy about this development - I don't much like the Rituparno Ghosh films I've seen, and the idea of remaking Kaagaz ke phool strikes me as daft, to say the least. I'd be excited for any new film with Shabana ji, but I'm just as happy for this not to be one of them.

• Onir's comedy Sorry Bhai, starring Shabana ji, Boman Irani, Chitraganda Singh, and Sharman Joshi, is in post-production, and expected to be ready by the end of June. We should start seeing a release date and promotion soon. This is definitely one to look forward to, folks - it will be great.

• In her activist avatar, Shabana ji spoke movingly last month at a conference of NGOs dedicated to issues of women's health. "It is sad that on one hand our country is emerging as a global power and on the other the health issues of women in rural areas go unnoticed. Even if it is not an institutional delivery, it is the right of every human being to give birth without any crisis," she said. You can read some of her other comments here.

I've got some more posts lined up for the future so I promise I won't vanish for a month again. But here's what you can do to help me out: write a guest post! Write something about Shabana Azmi - a film review, a list of your favorite movies, a paean extolling her virtues, or even a critique - and email it to me. I'll post with or without your name as you prefer. SLP is yours - please consider submitting a guest post.


The gorgeous sure didn't disappear during my absence!

Shabana Azmi on board for political satire

This sounds really cool. IndiaFM is reporting that Shabana Azmi is signed on to Anubhav Sinha's next production, a political satire. This could really be gold - combining Shabana ji's activist side her talent for comedy, a talent that is seemingly being recognized and sought after more and more.

I hope she has a big juicy role, and I can't wait to see the film.

Mahesh Bhatt's Bhutto film hits a snag

According to this article in India's Financial Express, Benazir Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari has refused approval to Mahesh Bhatt's proposed biopic about Bhutto, which (according to various stories) would have starred Shabana Azmi. Although Bhatt's film would have a been a co-production with a Pakistani production company, the article suggests that strong sentiments against having Bhutto's story told by an Indian filmmaker are at work here.

I don't think permission from the family is legally required to make a movie about a public figure such as Bhutto, but it likely is required for an adaptation of Bhutto's memoir, and at any rate would be useful for both practical and political reasons. So while this development doesn't spell the project's certain doom, it's definitely not a good sign.

The article also notes that Robert Redford has the right to produce a film about Benazir Bhutto, a fact which I'd also seen mentioned elsewhere; there is no reason that Shabana Azmi could not play Ms. Bhutto in a Hollywood production, and if that's the only Bhutto film that gets made I have to admit I would love to see Shabana ji get the part. I could see her winning an Academy Award for a role like that, just as I could see her picking up another National Award for an Indian-produced Bhutto biopic.

Roundup

Still no further news about the Rituparno Ghosh film, but a reader brought this small item to my attention, according to which Shabana Azmi is working on a project called Sorry Bhai. The film is by Onir, who directed Bas ek pal and My Brother Nikhil, and purportedly stars, in addition to Shabana ji, Sanjay Suri, Boman Irani, Sharman Joshi, and Chitrangdha Singh. Once again there's very little out there about this; here is a tiny little story that identifies the film as a romantic comedy with Shabana ji and Boman sahib playing the parents of the leads. That sounds like fun; more news when it comes.

My next item isn't directly related to Shabana ji - it merely mentions her in passing - but it piqued my interest enough to share with you. It's a report that cites Andrew Cooper, a Canadian scholar of political affairs and diplomacy, as saying that Hindi film stars ought to be pressed into diplomatic service. (Here's an interview with Mr. Cooper about the same.)

I haven't thought about this much, but it seems a little simplistic and paternalistic. I mean, yes, Bollywood celebrities have global reach and broad influence, but that's what makes them good at selling watches and fashion; it's not all that's needed for diplomacy. While our lady Shabana ji and a few others mentioned in the piece have gotten involved in political affairs, I think it's safe to assume that if the likes of Shah Rukh Khan had interest in using their celebrity in this way, then they could figure out how to do so without some Canadian wonk instructing them. The difficulty of being Shabana Azmi is that she has to take positions that some of her potential audience is uncomfortable with; she's ordered her priorities as she sees fit and has made the decision to do that, but not all celebrities are up for it.

Next, here is a nice little video from Lehren TV about the launch of writer Javed Siddiqui's book Shyam Rang (evening color), a celebration at which Shabana Azmi was present last week. (I'm sorry to not offer a translation of the video at the moment but I need to get going to the office.) I post this mostly to counterbalance the painful pictures from the Jodhaa-Akbar premiere; for Javed Siddiqui's book launch, Shabana ji looked quite herself in a lovely orange sari with a pink choli. There are a few stills here at Smash Hits.

Kya haseen sitam?

Reader Aung Phyoe reports in a recent comment that Shabana Azmi is signed for a Rituparno Ghosh film with Naseeruddin Shah and Vidya Balan. I hadn't come across that news yet and I can't find any more about it at the moment, save this sourceless post on the Radio Sargam blog. I'll keep you posted.

I'm sorry to say that I don't share Aung's enthusiasm for the project; I've yet to be positively impressed by a Rituparno Ghosh movie and I hope he doesn't make a botch of this one as well.

I do like the tentative title, "Kya haseen sitam" - what a beautiful affliction - almost certainly a reference to the gorgeous song "Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam" from Kaagaz ke phool, a song written by Shabana Azmi's father Kaifi Azmi.

A "Positive" story and some news

In New Post India, Farhan Akhtar talks about directing his stepmother Shabana Azmi in the short film Positive, part of Mira Nair's AIDS JaaGo project discussed here. He said that despite their personal relationship, he knew she wouldn't compromise her standards to do him any favors: "I knew if I went to her with something she didn't approve of, she'd tell me to buzz off, regardless of our relationship. I didn't want her to be in that position where she might have to say no."

In other news, a British showbiz outlet called The First Post reports that Mahesh Bhatt has chosen Shabana ji to play the lead in his Benazir Bhutto bio-pic. I'm a little surprised to see this news coming out of Britian before India, so I'll remain skeptical until I see quotes from Shabana ji confirming it. The First Post also has Hollywood throwing a hat into the Bhutto bio-pic ring, in a project to be directed by Robert Redford.

More on the Bhutto bio-pic?

Well, not really more on it. The same story I cited a couple of days ago is still making the rounds on the wires and the blogosphere.

Reader Melinda pointed out in a comment that Mahesh Bhatt has signed on to a Bhutto bio-pic - here's a story on that from the Hindustan Times. That story says Bhatt's film is a Pakistani production, and though casting hasn't yet been announced, I wouldn't be surprised if one of Pakistan's excellent older actors takes on the role instead of Shabana ji. UPDATE: Mahesh Bhatt offers the clarification that his production company is talking to people in Pakistan about the film, but that it's only an agreement "in principle" to proceed, and it's too soon after Ms. Bhutto's death to really start developing the project.

My own guess is that there will likely be more than one Bhutto bio-pic project announced in the coming year - maybe Bhatt's and Tariq Ali's and maybe one or two more. Perhaps only one will make it through to release, or perhaps more than one. At any rate, it seems all but certain that Shabana ji will get involved in one of them. She's interested in playing the role, and the casting is just too good to resist.

News roundup

Hi all. The best laid schemes of an industrious carla oft go awry; I spent a week in the country as planned, but the satellite internet connection was down, leaving me unable to browse the Shabana Azmi news and collect the best tidbits for you. Here, then, is a late roundup.

Times of India reports that Shabana ji would like to play the late Benazir Bhutto. Apparently some 15 years ago there was a fledgling plan for a Tariq Ali film in which she would do just that; with Ms. Bhutto's recent assassination there may be renewed interest in this project. It's been pointed out to me before that there is a strong resemblance between the two women; from her comments in the article, I'd say that Shabana ji also seems aware of this. I don't want to say too much about Ms. Bhutto here and now, but I will say that if the time and the project is right, it is a casting I would very much like to see.

Shabana ji covers a range of topics in an interview with Subhash K. Jha. I believe that parts of this interview are recycled from last year - Subhash must have been on deadline. Toward the end, Shabana ji asks Subhash to teach her to cook ("Please Subhash, mujhe khana pakana sikha do.") You know, I'm quite a decent cook and I'd be happy to give Shabana ji an afternoon of my time. I've even prepared the recipe in this article.

This isn't really news about Shabana ji, rather an interesting mention of her. She is quoted in a very interesting recent editorial in Hindustan Times on the issue of achieving a secular Uniform Civil Code.

Our friend Aspi admires Javed Akhtar but is feeling a little bit overexposed of late.

Javed sahib has written his own glowing review of the music of Taare zameen par. I enjoyed this review because I loved the movie and even though it's a bit manipulative, I've been listening to the soundtrack obsessively since I saw the film. The lyrics have struck me as a little reminiscent of Javed sahib's, especially in the title song, which features sequences of similes beginning with "jaise" that remind me of Javed sahib's "Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa lagaa ..."

That's all for now - I wish all of you a safe and warm New Year (I guess it's already 2008 for some of you), and I'll see you next year.

Is Shabana in Nandita Das's film?

This from the Times of India - The crew of Nandita Das's directorial debut has run into some trouble when trying to shoot in a cemetery in Hyderabad. But the part of the story that stands out from an SLP point of view is this:

Police said the film crew of 'In Such Times', reportedly directed by actor and director Nandita Das and starring acclaimed actor Shabana Azmi, went to the Dargah-e-Buran-e-Shah in Santoshnagar on Monday morning. Neither Nandita Das nor any of the cast members of the documentary was present at the location.

Starring Shabana Azmi? This is the first I've heard of it. And my impression from my own poorly-worded run-in with Nandita ji is that she is tired of being compared to Shabana ji and is trying to distance herself from her. So I'm surprised at this casting, and perhaps even a little skeptical. Will keep you informed, of course.

Merry Christmas to all SLP's readers who celebrate the holiday. I do not, but it's a convenient time to take a week off, so I am on vacation this week and will take a little time to catch you up on some recent Shabana news and some stuff that readers have sent, and to recap the December poll. See you soon!