"In theatre, there are no retakes and films do not allow
you to fake. Performing in theatre is always difficult as there
always remains scope for error. Theatre demands a lot of patience
and concentration. Besides entertaining, it is also a good medium
of change in society.
"We have put in a lot of hard work in 'Broken Images'
and audiences are appreciating it. We will take this play to
the US in October and then to London," stated Shabana.
About her dream role, Azmi said, "There is no such role.
But, yes, if I get a chance then I would love to play a historical
character like Cate Blanchett in 'Elizabeth'."
Born to poet Kaifi Azmi and stage actress Shaukat Azmi, Shabana
is also very enthusiastic about her mother's biography "Kaifi
Aur Mein".
" 'Kaifi Aur Mein' has been carefully constructed by (husband)
Javed Akhtar, taking instances from my parents' life. It is
very overwhelming for me to portray the character of my mother
on stage. Even Javed shares the stage," said Shabana.
"Many producers have expressed interest in it, but right
now I cannot disclose anything more. The book has been also
translated into English, namely 'Kaifi And I' and has been selected
by 14 different universities in the US as part of their curriculum
of South Asian studies," said Shabana.
Shabana, who also runs an NGO for the welfare of slumdwellers,
feels strongly against social evils like female foeticide.
"Both Punjab and Haryana are progressive states that are
seeing development in all fields but the sad part is female
foeticide is still in practice here. It is shocking that the
desire for a male child is so great that people are killing
the girl child. It is cold-blooded murder," she said.
She said, "We all have to stand together against this
and stop seeing girls as a burden."
"The number of maternal deaths of women every week in
India is more than the total number of women dying in entire
Europe in one year. We talk about GDP and economic growth, but
all these figures will be wasted if we do not work on our human
development index," said Shabana.