'Party politics really puts the fetters on you'
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Does acting come naturally to you?
Yes, it does. But I am aware that just because it comes naturally doesn't mean you shouldn't work hard at all. Because to improve something you have to put your mind to it. So I do a lot of homework, I learn my lines properly. I find it very beneficial if I can get rehearsals with my co-stars...
I look for a person who is close to that character in real life. So if I'm playing a slum-dweller, I spend a lot of time with slum-dwellers. If I am playing a politician, I spend a lot of time with politicians. If I am playing a prostitute, I spend a lot of time with prostitutes. I like to meet people who are similar to the characters I play because that kind of observation will only enrich your imagination. The script is there. So you get your basic stuff from the script and you can also add your imagination. But if you can find similar persons in real life, then that is a very, very helpful experience.
Do you exercise your authority sometimes?
I do. I would not accept a film if it suggests that women are inferior. I would not accept a film if that said that the poor are bad. I would not accept a film that derides the basic human values. No, I would not do such films...
I would rather play a helpless character if she would change from being helpless to strong; or if she continues to be helpless and by the end of the film you feel so outraged at her helplessness that you feel things must change. Then I would play such a character.... I can argue with my director; and in fact I do. But ultimately the film is the director's medium, so I surrender to the director's wish.
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Do you regret working in films like Amar Akbar Anthony early in your career?
Amar Akbar Anthony was a learning experience for me. I did that film was because I thought it would be a big success and it would be good for me. It was a big success but it didn't do any good for me. People asked how Shabana Azmi could work in a film like that.
They didn't say it about Neetu Singh, they didn't say it about Parveen Babi. Maybe it was a compliment. I realised that these kind of films, even if they were successful, would not help me. Even if I was to work in the mainstream cinema, I would have to do characters that have some basis and reality in them.
So films like Avatar, which became such a big hit, followed. Substantial roles in mainstream film like Arth, Masoom, Mandi, Swami or Thodi Si Bewafaai
were part of my learning experience. I am simply not cut out to be a regular Hindi film heroine. I don't have what it takes.
Do you have any political ambitions?
I have been asked to contest elections for many, many years now and I have already resisted it, because I have felt that party politics really puts the fetters on you, because the party's truth becomes your truth, which is necessarily a selective truth.
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I look upon myself as a grassroots worker. The work I do with Nivara Hakk concerns itself with social justice, irrespective of party affiliation. So my nomination to the Rajya Sabha is also a Presidential nomination. I am not restricted by party and I think that is my strength. The work I do is political, definitely, but it's free of party politics.
Would you like to say something about your title role in Godmother?
It is an interesting role. She (the protagonist) is a rural woman who is made to fight and win an election by people who imagine that she will be a stooge because it is a reserved constituency.
They think they are going to be able to actually pull the strings. Then they discover that she is not going to be anybody's little stooge. She isn't too conscious of the means that she uses for the end she wants. But her basic value system is correct. And so she becomes a ruthless politician.
When her son grows up and she tells him that what he is doing is wrong, he turns around and says that that's what he has learnt from her. That is her moment of self-realisation, when she realises what is the value system she is passing on to her son. And then she changes and makes a last attempt to bring this community together.
It is a powerful role. It has strong negative shades in it. It is basically a character study of this woman called Rambhiben Odedra. It is a kind of role that I have not played before.
If not the masses, do you think the cognoscenti will accept you in this role?
I would want both of them to accept me in it. I don't think it has been planned for only one particular group. I think we are looking upon it as a mainstream film which will be appreciated by both the classes and the masses.
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Do you plan to write your autobiography?
No, not yet at least.
What do you generally read?
Unfortunately, I read very boring books. I read a lot of very heavy stuff. I don't have time to read fiction. Because my work involves women. I read a lot of books on development. I read a lot of reference books because I give talks at universities etc. And I do all my reference work myself.
Any particular author whom you enjoy reading the most?
Mirza Ghalib I like very much. He is my favourite poet. And Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Apart from my own father Kaifi Azmi, I like the poetry of Javed Akhtar (her husband) very much.
Were Shabana Azmi not an actress, what would she be?
A cook! I wish I could be a cook. It's my life's biggest frustration that I am passionately fond of cooking and I am the world's worst cook!
No, I am not being modest, really. I would love to be a good cook. I collect recipes with a passion. The minute I eat something, I ask everybody all the details. But when I try to cook it myself, it becomes the world's worst dish. That is my biggest frustration. I love Gujarati food. My large number of friends, right from my school days till now, are all Gujarati. I adore Gujarati food. And I am having a ball here in Morbi.
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