Dubai interview

This week Shabana Azmi is in Dubai. My internet stalking automated Google searches turned up a couple of interesting items about her trip.

This report from albawaba.com explains that Shabana ji is a brand ambassador for an Indian health and fitness company called VLCC that is opening a facility in Dubai. I didn't know about this particular endorsement relationship, but at the moment (and perhaps for the best) I don't have time to editorialize or rationalize or philosophize about it. Read the article - it includes Shabana ji's thoughts about representing the company - and let us know what you think.

Second, a Dubai news outlet, Khaleej Times, has a terrific interview that I very much enjoyed reading. In addition to lots of good sound bites that will undoubtedly find their way into future quick posts on bon mots days, Khaleej Times has given us the very sexy snapshot reproduced above. (Thanks also to Sally for the e-mail heads-up about this interview.)

Another TV talent contest

First she filled in for Javed sahib when he was a judge on Indian Idol. Then she made a guest appearance on Star Voice of India. Now, Shabana Azmi is apparently serving as judge on yet another talent show, the peculiarly spelled Jjhoom India. The Times of India has a brief interview with her about it.

I can't say I am very excited about projects like this. I don't care for TV talent contests at all and I can't sit through them just because Shabana ji might look nice or turn a clever phrase or two. I love her with all my heart, but I guess not without limit.

Happily for me, the Times of India interview hints at some more promising news: "I am doing two new movies," Shabana ji says, "but I won’t be able to talk about them."

When she does, you'll certainly hear about it here. Perhaps one of them is Sadiyaan - we'll find out in time.

"Tota-maina ki kahani," Fakira (1976)

I am in my office doing some research, and I have some music playing quietly in the background. This song came on, and it made me think - it's Friday, I haven't done a Shabana-gaana in a while, and it will only take a couple of minutes to find the song on YouTube and post it. So here you go: "Tota-maina ki kahanai," from Fakira, in which an almost impossibly young Shabana Azmi romps in a meadow with a plaid-jacketed, airplane-collared Shashi Kapoor and declares: "Main Fakire ki rani ho gayi" - I have become Fakira's queen.



I love Shabana ji's mainstream juvenilia. I love the trademark hairstyle she wore through the 70s, with those short bits curling down the sides. I love her bashful non-smile, betraying self-consciousness about her teeth. I love her youthfulness, lean and strong but awkward, and really not much of a dancer. I just love the roughness of the whole package, and the air that Post-Punk Cinema Club interprets as "What the hell am I doing in this film?" There may be no film that embodies this spirit better than Fakira. Of course I know what the hell she's doing in this film - if you're 25, and trying to establish yourself as an actor, do you turn down the chance to star opposite one of the biggest heroes of the era, and your girlhood crush to boot? But that doesn't make it any less endearing to watch this somewhat nervous and slightly unsteady proto-Shabana, still figuring out who she is and where she's headed.

Dus kahaniyaan stills

Thanks to dormeg at the BollyWHAT forum, and via Radio Sargam, a couple of stills from the upcoming Dus kahaniyaan:





I love Shabana ji's look in this, plain yet dignified with the spectacles and so on. I'm a little afraid from the one preview I saw of what else we'll have to sit through in order to enjoy Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana ji's ten minutes of the film - but I suspect that some of the ten stories will be good, others not so much.

Sadiyaan is real - but not a done deal

Here via IndiaFM is some more news about Sadiyaan, the rumored film starring Shabana Azmi and Rekha that I first heard of a couple of weeks ago.

According to the article, the project is not finalized - director Raj Kanwar would like to cast Shabana ji and Rekha in his film but has not yet done so. Rekha, it seems, is enthusiastic about the project and hoping to work with Shabana ji.

Subhash K. Jha, the article's author, loves his dish, and he doesn't pass up the opportunity to dredge up snark, quoting Javed Akhtar sahib as saying that Rekha's performances don't touch his heart. He also questions Shabana ji's relationship with Rekha, insisting that they don't care for one another much. But just a couple of weeks ago another article asserted conspiratorially that "not many people know that Shabana Azmi is a very close friend of Rekha."

close friends?

I'm not a huge fan of Rekha's ephemeral will-o-the-wisp persona, but given a suitably earthy role she can be powerful and great fun, as in Krrish or Lajja. I'm finding myself hoping that Sadiyaan happens with Rekha and Shabana ji.

2002 Interview - from AsiaSource

I'm sorry to be so buried with work that I can't give you something new to look at or think about every day.

As a quickie, here is a 2002 interview from AsiaSource which some of you have certainly seen before. It was the first interview of Shabana Azmi I ever read, and it very much made me sit up and take notice: this is a person I want to pay attention to. It covers much of the usual ground - the commitment to social change that permeated the household of Kaifi Azmi, the turning point of Arth, the promise of the independent voice of women in government, and so on - but as always it's a good read. One thing that comes through, I think, and that I particularly love about Shabana ji, is her optimism. She is a serious and committed person but she is never a downer - she always speaks with hope for a better future, whether it's the future of Indian cinema or the future of India.

October poll - results

The results of the October poll are in - and it's a tie! Your favorite Shabana Azmi movies are Mandi and Masoom; each of these received 12 votes. Following in second place is Fire, with eight votes - there had been a three-way tie for a while earlier in the month, before Mandi and Masoom pulled ahead. Arth and Ankur gave a respectable showing, coming in at four and three votes, respectively. Honorable mention to 15 Park Avenue, Parvarish, and Sparsh, which picked up a vote each.

The results of this poll are interesting. I expected Fire to put up a solid showing. SLP has plenty of readers in North America and I suspect that many of these, like me, were first introduced to Shabana ji in Fire. I am also not surprised by the strong showing for Masoom. When I first wrote about this movie on Filmi Geek, I was pleased to learn that it is a popular favorite among desis. People my age fondly remember it from their childhood, and others love it just as strongly; my review of Masoom has received more comments than any other review I've written. So it stands to reason that it would come out on top in a poll like this one.

I am especially intrigued, though, by the strong showing for Mandi. I haven't yet seen this film, and I didn't know it would fare as well as it has in this poll. I'm now looking forward to seeing it - even more than before.

The relatively poor performance of Shabana ji's classic, iconic films like Arth and Ankur is, I think, an artifact of restricting the poll to a single film per voter. I suspect that at least one of these films would make most people's top three.

Of course this is all somewhat artificial, as it's not always meaningful to choose a single "favorite" film. The criteria are vague - is the best film? The one I enjoy the most? The most meaningful? The one closest to my heart? - and the answer can change with shifting moods. Still, it was a fun poll, and I thank you all for voting. I have a much more interesting question in mind for the next poll, so you can look for that in the beginning of November - work permitting.

Green

Angeles sent this nifty picture:



Actually Angeles sent me some other very lovely pictures a couple of weeks ago that I'll use as an illustration for some post or other one of these days. I don't know where she finds them! But I'm not complaining.

SLP metapost

I wish it weren't so, but there other forces in my life apart from Shabana Azmi. The next few weeks are likely to be extremely nutso for me. I will try to keep up with the news here, but the features, screencaps, and philosophical musings may have to take a back seat for a while. Also please don't take it personally if I don't get around to answering emails right away.

In the meantime, I've extended the October Poll by another week. I was planning to wrap it up today and post on the results, but I think it's still collecting votes so I decided to wait a little longer. Please vote (in the sidebar at right) if you have not already.

Also, in the last couple of weeks I've rearranged the archives a little bit which should make looking for previous posts a little more fun. The "news" category still exists, but there are now also separate categories for "activism" and "upcoming films," so that news pertaining to each of these aspects of Shabana Azmi's work is separately identified. Of course the decade categories are always there for posts about past films.

I've also created a category called "navel-gazing" for those days when I seem to wax philosophical. My husband wondered whose navel I'm gazing at. He thought by "navel-gazing" I might have meant this:



So just to be completely unambiguous, let me state quite clearly for the record that I meant was this.

Finally, I'd like to put out a call to all of you to submit guest posts - that might help keep things lively around here when I'm too busy to write new stuff. If you have a review, some comments on Shabana ji's performance in a movie, or anything else you think might be of interest to SLP readers, send it along.

The next post will be SLP's 100th. Thanks to all of you for making this so much fun!

Geek's Guide to Shabana Azmi, part 4 - Eh...

This is the fourth and final segment of the Geek's Guide to Shabana Azmi. To learn more about the Geek's Guide, please visit the Introduction, as well as Part 1 - Iconic roles, Part 2 - Cog in a brilliant machine, and Part 3 - Solid starrers.

Eh...

I either don't like these films, or I feel that Shabana ji was wasted in them - or both.

Avtaar (1983). I think one of those films whose approach is lost in translation to me, as someone who is not Indian, because it was a commercial success. I also understand it was the inspiration for the recent film Baghban. To me, its handling of an important theme - that young people should respect their elders - fell somewhere between peculiar and disturbing. There was nothing wrong with Shabana ji's performance in it - well, except the excruciating "Din mahino saal" - but the role could have been adequately filled by any of her contemporaries. As for "Din mahino saal," I can only conclude that Shabana ji was made to look ungraceful on purpose.

Pestonjee (1988). Not a bad film - actually quite a good film, and an essential for fans of Naseeruddin Shah or Anupam Kher, both of whom are outstanding. Kirron Kher has a fantastic vampish turn as well. But I just don't like the way Shabana ji was used. The role, in my opinion, didn't play to her strengths at all.

Ek doctor ki maut (1991). I feel bad putting Ek doctor ki maut in this category; it's not that bad, and Shabana ji is quite good in it. But it doesn't really fit into any of the other categories either. It ends up here, I think, because I'd rewatch any of the films in the other three categories before rewatching this one - but it arguably does not deserve such a lowly fate.

Morning Raga (2004). Ugh. The trouble with Morning Raga is that it's just not a very good movie. Shabana ji played her part very well, but that wasn't enough to save the amateurish feel of the whole project. A weak script, weak directing, weak music, and most of all weak acting - it's Shabana ji giving a master class to a bunch of kids who can't act. I do think it's a good thing that Shabana ji gets involved in projects like this, where she lends her skill and cachet to a new or unknown filmmaker whose talent she believes in. Unfortunately, the result isn't always a great film.

Umrao Jaan (2006). Shabana yes, rest of the film not so much. I can't say it better than the lady herself: "I loved the clothes I wore in the film and my scenes were delicious. I liked myself." If it hadn't been for the sentimental appeal of reprising her mother's role from the 1981 Muzaffar Ali classic, I wonder whether Shabana ji would have come within 100 yards of this project. Still, at least it gives us pictures like this one: