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One of the finest actors Indian cinema has ever seen, Shabana Azmi has demonstrated her versatility by taking on roles in mainstream, independent, parallel and international films. In her repertoire of over 150 films, director Manmohan Desai’s Amar Akbar Anthony stands tall as one of the most successful commercial films.
The five-time National Film Award recipient recently opened up about working on the film, which also starred Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Parveen Babi, Neetu Singh and Pran in key roles. “I had also worked with Manmohan Desai in Parvarish. In fact, we were shooting it simultaneously. I absolutely enjoyed being with Neetu Singh (in Parvarish), and we played sisters who are thieves. There were also, of course, Vinod Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan. I had a ball,” she recalled during a chat with Zoom.
“Then, he came to me while I was shooting for another film and asked me for a favour, noting that he was going to produce a film for the first time and wanted me to be a part of it. I said ‘done’. But he immediately interjected and continued, ‘Listen first, there is no role for you per se. But (if I don’t do this), that Vinod Khanna will pester me, asking why he doesn’t have a heroine while Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor do.’ It was so typical of Manmohan Desai that he spoke just as it is, and that’s what endeared me to him,” she added.
Shabana further recalled an incident that happened during Amar Akbar Anthony’s shooting. “We were filming at RK Films, and there were two shootings happening simultaneously with the same actors and the same director: Parvarish and Amar Akbar Anthony. Actors were just changing clothes and going from one set to the other. Can you imagine something like that today? I was so fascinated by it.”
“There was this one scene where Amitabh was putting tape on his mirror reflection, and he had to do 14 takes because of no fault of his own. But the concentration with which he did it was stunning to watch,” she added.
Shabana Azmi also shared another memorable moment from the shooting of Parvarish. “The villain had caught Neetu’s and my characters and made us hang from atop a well. We couldn’t afford to fall because (in the film) there were crocodiles that could eat our legs. But then we started falling into the water, and when we fell, we ended up stinking as the water was so stagnant that people had to cover their noses when we came out. We were scared that we would get some kind of skin rash. Yet, it was such fun.”
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