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Posts tagged broken images
Shabana’s ‘big’ regret
Apr 27th
Getting into a role, a fractured foot, has done the actress in… she’s now on painkillers and diet
SUBHASH K JHA Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; April 27, 2010)
Getting into the skin of her screen character is proving to be as weighty an issue for Shabana Azmi as it had been for Hrithik Roshan recently. The Bollywood hunk, you remember, after shooting for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish in which he plays a paraplegic, found his narrow waist spreading to a gross 36 inches after stuffing himself silly with khaana-peena from the Mehboob Studios canteen to look the part.
Billed as one of the fittest men in Bollywood, Hrithik went through much agony to shed the flab, and even now is not the lean and mean hottie of Krrrish and Dhoom 2. While Shabana’s is another case. The czarina of method acting who tampered with her metabolism for Gurinder Chadha’s film, is now wondering if the effort was worth it.
It was meant to be for the role, but Shabana now faces a serious health problem thanks to the 25 pounds she put on to play the murderous mom of a marriageable girl in the film. This was followed by the mishap in which she fractured a foot, had her leg in plaster and was plonked for a goodish period in a wheelchair. Not being able to get around actively and lugging around that extra weight, Shabana is now depressed. The cast is out, but the actress is just finding her feet, and at her first performance in the play Broken Images after the fracture, Shabana said on Saturday that she was on painkillers and worried as hell about how to get back to her normal size.
“Over three months, I gorged on samosas, pakoras, chocolates and all things fried,” revealed the actress. “I had a ball having found an official reason to pig out. But the fun came with a payback. My back gave way and I had to take sessions with an osteopath through the schedule. When I got back to Mumbai, my cholesterol, triglycerides and thyroid levels had hit the roof ! My doctor was furious. He said if I had asked him, he would never have let me do this.”
Twenty-five years ago, throwing herself into her smashing role for Mandi, Shabana had done the same. “But this time the fat that has got deposited in my arteries is there to stay and it was far too risky to do this for a role,” she ruefully admitted. The actress is now on a strict diet and medication. “It’s torture, I simply cannot eat every two hours, which is the way all nutrition plans work these days. I lose weight but the minute I start eating again, I rapidly put it back. I feel like a yoyo. Age has a lot to do with it. I guess these are the hazards of inhabiting a part. An actor is her own instrument… unlike an instrumentalist. If you play the sitar, for instance, how well you play depends on the dexterity of your fingers plus how finely-tuned the sitar is. But an actor has only her head, heart and physicality to play with and it is her business to tune herself to the demands of the part.” Maybe Hrithik Roshan should lend his weight to her cause and show Shabana how to get back into shape!
Shabana takes a break
Mar 10th
The actress bravely performed a play despite breaking her leg, but the fracture has put her out of action for the next six weeks
By Subhash K Jha (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 10, 2010)
On Sunday, Shabana Azmi slipped on the stairs of her home, fractured her leg but still managed to climb on stage the same evening to perform a complex double role in the play Broken Images. But now all further shows of Broken Images in Delhi, Bangalore and Chandigrah will have to be cancelled till Shabana’s broken leg is healed.
“Yes I’ve fractured my left foot, but it has nothing to do with my Leftist leanings,” she grimaces. “My foot will remain in a cast for the next six weeks. We just wrote in a sprained ankle for my character on Sunday. I went on stage pumped up with two injections and four painkillers. No one got to know that my character’s ‘sprained’ foot was actually a real broken bone. That’s acting, my dear.”
But never having been incapacitated like this before, Shabana is at her wit’s end. “I feel so helpless. Maybe this is destiny’s way of making me rest. Until forced, I’d never be at home for more than two days at a stretch. What worries me are all the cancelled shows of Broken Images.”
Though the play’s director Alyque Padamsee has assured her there’s no need to fret, Shabana remains worried. “This is the first time I’ve had to cancel my commitments. And I feel miserable about it. In April I’m supposed to go to London to promote Gurinder Chadha’s It’s A Wonderful Afterlife. I hope I’m able to make it.”
For now, Shabana has plans of taking care of things around the house for the next six weeks. “My domestic staff is in a state of panic, running helter-skelter wondering how they’ll cope with me in the house for six weeks. I wonder how I’ll cope with myself for six weeks!”
Shabana Azmi back to theatre
Nov 4th
Shabana Azmi returns to theatre with a challenging role in a one-actor play. She will play her character as well as its spirit
By Subhash K Jha (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 04, 2009)
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If you find Shabana Azmi talking to herself, don’t be surprised. She will now act in a one-actor play where she essays two roles. Broken Images, based on Girish Karnad’s A Heap of Broken Images, will be directed by theatre veteran Alyque Padamsee.
Shabana needs to master the art of playing one character and also its spirit. Though Shabana is not talking about her new venture, reports from the Azmi household suggest that she has been rehearsing the scenes rigorously with her sister-in-law Tanvi Azmi, standing in for the character of her spirit. Shabana’s earlier play Tumhari Amrita with Farooque Shaikh had only two characters and it continues to be a hit more than a decade after its first staging 18 years ago. Ardent Shabana fans hope Broken Images will have a similar impact. A friend of Shabana says, “At this stage of her career, Shabana needs new challenges as an actor. Otherwise, she would rather devote her time to the social causes she stands for.” The friend also expresses concern about the difficulty that Shabana will face while playing the two characters. She adds, “How will Shabana be able to play two characters in a play without any support from another actor? In Tumhari Amrita, she had Farooque. In Broken Images, it’s just Shabana.” Alyque Padamsee said, “Right now, I am in the middle of rehearsals with Shabana. Could you call later?” In a hurry to sign off, an impatient Alyque said that he had convinced big actors like Shabana to work with him earlier too. “I had also directed Smita Patil in a play 20 years ago,” he says. The play is expected to be staged in Mumbai in December, to be followed by other cities in India and abroad. |
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