Shabana Azmi recalls mother's odd reaction to her performance
- By Web Desk -
- Jun 06, 2022
Bollywood actor Shabana Azmi recalled her mother telling her that she would marry her off to a handicapped person after watching one of her films.
The wife of Indian poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar, who is one of the most prominent figures in India, recalled the moment during the launching of her book The Oldest Love Story. The actor spoke about her mother Shaukat Azmi’s personality and her reaction to her performance in film Faslah during the event.
“My mother never minced or sugarcoated her words. She kept an amazing balance between her professional and her personal life. And she definitely was not the Nirupa Roy type Bollywood maa,” she said as quoted by an India-based news agency in its report. “She used to express her point in a very straight forward matter-of-fact way. When my first film Ankur was released, my mother was sitting in the front row ahead of me. After the film, she turned around and said, ‘Shabana, you are a very good actress, I am proud of you. This film is very good.’ I was very confident after listening to my mother’s words.”
The actor added: “When my second film Faslah came after two months, she was sitting ahead of me. And in the same manner, she looked back and said in front of everyone, ‘Shabana, this is such a bad film and you have done such a bad job. If you had shown me this film earlier, I would have got you married off to some random handicapped man, but would not have not let you act in the film industry!’ She was just straight forward.”
Shabana Azmi said her mother used to frankly tell her off when she was being rude to her.
“There was a time when I often behaved very rudely. Once my mother called me and asked why am I behaving like this. I told her that I think she loves my brother Baba more. She replied simply, ‘Shabana, ‘I am your mother but I am also a human being. Your nature is rude and unpleasant and I do not like the rude you. Your brother is very loving, good natured. That’s why I treat him well.’ Hearing this, I left my rude behavior once and for all,” she said.