'Par-excellence' actress Shabana Azmi recalls fond flashbacks at MAMI-2024 MasterClass with Vidya Balan ! Versatile Shabana was honored by legendary Waheeda Rehman for “50 Glorious Years of Excellence” at MAMI FilmFest ! by Chaitanya Padukone

Acclaimed acting maestro “Padma Bhushan” Shabana Azmi who conducted a Masterclass at MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 at PVR-Juhiu was at her candid best as also she shared amazing nostalgic BTS ( behind-the-scenes) memories. The ‘houseful’  MasterClass was in conversation with eminent brilliant actress Vidya Balan where multiple National Awards winner  Shabana Azmi shared insights into her journey and experiences her five decades ( “puray pachhaas saal” ! ) in the film industry. This was at the prestigious MAMI (Mumbai Academy of Moving Images) ongoing film festival. During their lively discussion, she reflected on her illustrious career, she also shared captivating stories and valuable lessons learned over fifty years in the showbiz industry.

In a packed theatre, cinephiles and ardent fans enjoyed the enlightening conversation of Shabana, while seizing the opportunity of interacting with her. She spoke about her diverse spectrum of vibrant characters. The dedicated Shabana has collaborated with some of the finest filmmakers, including Shyam Benegal, Mahesh Bhatt, Satyajit Ray, Goutam Ghose, Mrinal Sen, Basu Chatterjee, Sai Paranjpye, Saeed Mirza, Manmohan Desai,(movie ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’)  Gulzar, Shekhar Kapur, Tapan Sinha, Deepa Mehta, Vishal Bhardwaj, Mira Nair, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and more recently Karan Johar ( “’ Rocky aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’).

Jogging into a flashback,  Shabana recalled an amazing experience with Mahesh Bhatt stating he is a maverick director she works most easily with. Disclosed Shabana, “One of the movies in which I acted, we didn't have a written-script. As we were shooting it went along and it was all very ad-lib spontaneous and ad-hoc.  I would wear my own clothes and turn up on the sets. But there was something inside Bhatt-saab and it was like he would press a button and immediately I would start. I mean. If he gave me a difficult scene and expected me to do it right away, Even if I should say I can't do it, he would say, I can't. Artificial conflict is not allowed we don't have any time you better do it”. Disclosed the  ‘Godmother’ movie actress.

“During the ‘Arth’ movie song ‘Tum itna kyun, muskura rahe ho’ from the movie ‘Arth’ - “I was shooting that song for three days. Suddenly the third day I just completely froze and I didn't know what to do. It was the shot when it's supposed to be my birthday. My husband doesn't remember, and he comes, and he gives me the divorce papers. Then I come to Raj Kiran, and he doesn't know what exactly is happening but he's probing me through the song. Then I go away. he pulls me back and then he opens the divorce papers, he sees it and I didn't know what to do. Just before the clap was given,   Mahesh Bhatt saab said, look exposed. It was just the best instruction anybody could have given me.  Because if you now see the close-up, it's just as if someone exposed her”.

Continued Shabana, “Filmmaking is a collaborative medium. Actors get most of the prominence because they are in front of the camera, but they know there's a whole team behind the scenes working to enhance strengths and cover weaknesses. Film is a director's medium. I've never been able to rise above the director or the role. So, I want to thank all the directors I've worked with, from Shyam Benegal to Steven Spielberg,” Shabana  Azmi said.

The topic of theatre prompted Shabana,  to recall her experiences on how she felt, “the butterflies in my stomach become as large as elephants and I felt I'm never going to get it right. But once the first dialogue is set, then a certain ease sets in. It also depends on how many rehearsals you've done, how many times you've done the show”..

When Vidya Balan asked Shabana how she finds newness in what she does after working with great filmmakers and even Spielberg? She said, “I have surprised myself, even while doing a live performance. And then the reaction of the audience surprised me even more. I genuinely felt that it was my most truthful performance but audience did not clap. I asked Zakir Hussain, I said, have you ever had that experience? And he said, of course”.

On Shabana-ji’s question, what is the most difficult thing you find in acting? Vidya Balan said, “I think on different days, it's different things. I think it's just because I'm not at all a trained actor. I have no tools to fall back on. I think, therefore, before a film, I always sit with the director and try to understand the world, the character from the director's point of view. Because like you said, it is a director's medium”.  Vidya also added, “On a day when probably I'm physically tired and therefore, emotionally, I'm unable to connect with my body, I think sometimes it's just walking from here to here with purposelessness. That becomes very tough. So, there's no one thing that I find tough. But one thing that I'm dying to explore is comedy, because I think I've not really had the chance to do comedy. I feel like physical comedy for a woman. The only time I can remember physical comedy being done by a woman was Sridevi in Mr. India and you saw glimpses of that in other roles of hers also”.

MAMI honoured iconic nonpareil star-actress Shabana Azmi with the Excellence in Cinema Award ( given to her on stage by the living legend Waheeda Rehman ) during the MAMI Film-Fest 2024 opening ceremony to celebrate her 50 glorious years in cinema. A special screening of her iconic film Arth was also held at the festival on 20th October, celebrating her enduring ‘golden jubilee’ legacy.  What I found very interesting was that while Waheeda-jee was launched by the legendary film-maker-actor Guru Dutt ( Padukone) in timeless Hindi classics CID and Pyaasa, it was Guru Dutt’s relative ( second cousin) legendary film-maker Shyam Benegal who cast Shabana in her debut classic Hindi movie Ankur ( 1974).  What is also intriguing to note that in the Gulzar-directed movie Namkeen ( 1982), Waheeda Rehman played on-screen mother to Shabana Azmi!

 Waheeda Rehman praised Shabana Azmi, highlighting her performance in Karan Johar's 2023 film Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani. "I'm nothing compared to Shaukat aapaa and Kaifi sahab (Shabana's parents), so what can I say about Shabana? She is a great artist. When Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani came out, I wondered what Shabana would do, but I knew Karan Johar and Shabana would create magic,” Waheeda-jee said.

The 2024 edition of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival opened with a full-house screening of filmmaker Payal Kapadia's Cannes Grand Prix winner All We Imagine As Light and veteran actor Shabana Azmi being honoured with the Excellence in Cinema Award. The latest edition of the film gala, organized by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image, officially kicked off at the Regal Cinema in South Mumbai on Friday evening.

All We Imagine As Light, which made history as the first film from India to win the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in May, is a Malayalam-Hindi language movie about Prabha (Kani Kusruti), a Mumbai nurse whose life is thrown into disarray when she receives a rice cooker from her estranged husband.

The opening MAMI film-fest 2024 ceremony was attended by filmmakers like Kabir Khan, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vishal Bhardwaj (who came with his wife Rekha), Hansal Mehta, and Onir, along with actors Pratik Gandhi, Shriya Pilgaonkar, and Jim Sarbh, among others.

The Mumbai Film Festival, running from October 19 to 24 at two strategic venues, Regal Cinema ( near iconic Gateway of India) and Juhu PVR, will showcase over 110 films from more than 45 countries, spanning more than 50 languages. The closing film of the festival is Anora by Sean Baker, which won the top prize, the Palme d'Or, at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.

Films such as Sandhya Suri's Santosh, Shuchi Talat's Girls Will Be Girls, and Cannes winners The Substance and Emilia Perez are part of the MAMI lineup as well.

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