Mar 03, 2026 10:18am IST
Shabana Azmi: ‘No one is giving me National Awards anymore’ (EXCLUSIVE)
One of the most celebrated actors of the 1980s, Shabana Azmi remains a force to be reckoned with and is actively acting well into her 70s. Between her many shoots for her upcoming films, she made time to speak to Variety India about “a secret project in London”, Manish Malhotra’s “Bun Tikki,” Vikas Khanna’s “Imaginary Rain” and Raj Kumar Santoshi’s “Lahore 1947.”
“I can’t talk about it”, she says about shooting for that secret project in London, where she just returned from, but offers, “I celebrated the New Year on the sets of this film in London while shooting. I still can’t get over how organized the shooting schedules are abroad. We still have a long way to go.” She continues, “The endeavour is to broaden one’s horizons even at this age. The West wants to see India as an exotic land of drought and spiritualism. That cliché has to be wrung by its neck and thrown out. With globalization, the West is open to our films. How we seize that opportunity, is entirely up to us.”
Manish Malhotra’s “Bun Tikki” is another project she is kicked about. “At this juncture of my career, I accept anything that strikes me as interesting: the script ,a young director’s take on it… the length of the role doesn’t matter, but it must be important to the story.”
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The kind of scripts she prefers are hard to come by. The actress notes, “That is but natural. It’s the cycle of life and I don’t grudge it. When I started my career I had no idea that I would be fortunate to find good work, 50 years later! That’s a huge bonus. I have stayed away from the helpless mother type of roles and Karan Johar’s ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ has given me a fresh lease of life. “Bun Tikki” and “Lahore 1947” have nothing in common and [Steven] Spielberg’s ‘Halo’ running its second season now is from another planet.”
Azmi is impressed by her “Bun Tikki” co-star Zeenat’s avatar new avatar as a social-media queen. She shares, “Zeenat tells me she was very reluctant to put herself out on social media, but her kids coaxed her and I’m glad they did. She looks glamorous, doesn’t pretend to look younger than she is and her posts are dignified. Kudos to her.”
Chef Vikas Khanna’s “Imaginary Rain” is also complete. Shabana Azmi plays a chef in it. Says the actress, “I can’t cook to save my life, but I’ve done a fair simulation of it in the film, so Vikas tells me. He treats me like a flower and I love working with him.”
Her next release is Raj Kumar Santoshi’s “Lahore 1947.” “We finished shooting the film long back. Thankfully, it is finally releasing. You know, it is so strange. There are so many firsts for me in this project. I have never worked with Raj Kumar Santoshi before or Aamir Khan who is producing the film. This is also the first time I’m working with Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta. Both are such a joy to work with.”
In the film, Shabana plays a woman who refuses to leave her ancestral home in Lahore during the Partition. “Yeh aurat itna rotee hai (this character cries so much). I haven’t wept so much on screen. Raj Kumar Santoshi is old school, but is absolutely certain of what he wants. ‘Lahore 1947’ is a powerful subject that he has been trying to make for years now and Aamir has given him the freedom to make it as he envisaged it.”
Already, Azmi has the most National Award ‘best actress’ wins (five in all), does she feel the Santoshi film will get her another? She laughs, “No one is giving me any National awards any more. I’ve realised that the thing I like doing most is acting. Awards are still important. But they are not the impetus to get on a set.”
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