BIRTHDAY SPECIAL: SHABANA AZMI KE SAATH MERA WOH PEHLA AUR AKHRI SCEN

Shabana Azmi Everyone who has known me for the last 50 years knows that I started my career because of a postcard that I wrote to Mr. K.A. Abbas, whom I did not know before. But, it was Mr. Abbas who trained me to handle the media of that time and the actors and technicians who worked with him in the Naye Sansaar unit.

Working with Mr. Abbas and Future Stars

I was lucky enough to join Mr. Abbas when he was about to make a film called “Faasla”, which I later found out was a modern version of Awara, which he had written for his friend Raj Kapoor. Mr. Abbas (I am writing Mr. Abbas because I certainly felt that I had not respected him and I should express my gratitude to him for what he had done for me) had introduced two new actors in the film, Shabana Azmi, the daughter of his friend and noted poet Kaifi Azmi, who had dropped out of FTII with a gold medal in acting, and Raman Khanna whose only ambition was to be “at least one-third of Rajesh Khanna”, as cynical as The Times. Mr. Abbas appointed me as his “literary assistant”, for reasons known only to him best. When I finally summoned up the courage to ask him why he gave me that title, he said, it was because I was the only accustomed assistant he had.

My job was to take Shabana Azmi's clothes and tell her to report for shooting on time because she knew and everyone knew what would happen if even one of them was late for the shoot. My job was also to talk to the new heroes and write about them in magazines far and wide, for which I was paid twenty-five rupees a piece, which was a princely sum for me in 1970. And one of the most important jobs I did and I still remember his five-line report written, typed, and signed by Mr. Abbas in which he announced that he had signed Shabana Azmi to play the leading lady of his new film 'Faasla'.

For any actor to have his name mentioned on the front page of Screen was a preview issue “and that is what Shabana Azmi achieved when the news of her being signed by Mr. Abbas appeared on the front page of India’s most prestigious and popular film magazine Screen. She was soon signed by many other filmmakers and made it big and she never mentioned in any of her interviews that Mr. Abbas first signed her I was dying to tell the world the truth because Mr. Abbas and no one else knew that the first news got about her being signed by Mr. Abbas was published in “Screen”…..Mr. Abbas was shooting a courtroom scene in RK Studios for ‘Faasla’. I didn’t. I know why the next day when I came to the studio, he asked me to wear a clean shirt. I couldn’t say no to him, so I borrowed a kurta from my waiter/neighbor Krishna and left for RK Studios.

Mr. Abbas who was extremely busy took me to the corner and said, “Ali sahab, you are going to make your debut as an actor today with dialogue and your first scene is with Shabana Azmi”. He also gave me the line I had to speak to Shabana in the court and I was more excited about the launch than the money I would get as a “decent extra” on anything else. The time to prove myself as a great actor came just before the tea break and I spoke my line and my friends clapped and at the end of the day I had to stand in a long queue to receive my first salary as an actor which was twenty-five rupees which I spent in the country's liquor bar next to RK studio and had no money to go back home.

But by the time Mr. Abbas asked me to leave her, I heard Shabana Azmi telling media National and International that she made her debut as an actress with Shyam Benegal’s ‘Ankur’ and not ‘Faasla’ made by Mr. Abbas. I waited for an opportunity to expose Shabana and my chance came at a book launch which was a collection of articles written by Mr. Abbas and called “Reading, Duty and Revolution”. Amitabh Bachchan was the chief guest. And Shabana Azmi was one of the special guests. I finally got my chance. Shabana was again telling people that she made her debut with Shyam Benegal’s ‘Ankur’ when I stood up and said, “This lady is lying. She made her debut not in 'Ankur' but in my guru's 'Faasla'" and there was silence all around and the woman looked at me as if I had done the darkest film and I was relieved of the burden I had been carrying for 50 years. I had finally done a small favor to the man who had been doing a great favor to me all my life.