Shabana Azmi On Completing 50 Years In Industry: Have So Much More To Achieve Before I Can Sit Back... | EXCL

Shabana Azmi is unarguably the greatest female actor in Hindi cinema. Her body of work and her range of performances are beyond staggering. As a lifelong fan, we celebrate every film of hers as godsent.Over lunch at her stunning home in Mumbai, we broach the subject of her golden jubilee anniversary all across the world.Shabana confesses she finds the panegyrics hard to digest. “Itni taarif .. bahot zyada hai. I know what I am capable of. But I am not worthy of so much attention. Of course, I appreciate all these events where I am honoured for fifty years of acting. But there is so much more to achieve.This is not false modesty. It is the reality. I have so much more to achieve before I can sit back smugly and consider myself great.”ALSO READ:Modesty apart, Shabana Azmi has rewritten all the rules of the heroine’s place in Hindi cinema. She is known to question her directors about her characters until they are ready to climb up the wall.She narrates her experience with Karan Johar during Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. “I was supposed to be cooking in the kitchen, with my hair flying open and wearing a saree that normally women wear to a wedding. I asked him how this made sense. Karan told me, ‘This is my film and that’s how my characters dress.’ Arguments apart, I love Karan and his cinema. I would love to work with him again.”We broach the subject of the performances that she holds close to her heart. “Mahesh Bhatt’s Arth for sure. It changed the mindset on how single women should live their lives. To this day I’ve women coming to me to talk about Arth. I also like my performance in Deepa Mehta’s Fire. It is the performance where I’ve made the least number of mistakes.”