Shabana Azmi hosts special screening of brother Baba Azmi’s Safia/Safdar

Celebrated actor Shabana Azmi hosted a special screening of her brother Baba Azmi’s upcoming film Safia/Safdar, bringing together friends from the film fraternity in an intimate show of support ahead of the release. Among those present were Tabu, Tanve Azmi, Dia Mirza, Urmila Matondkar, Richa Chadha, Nandita Das, Rahul Bose, Shibani and Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar, Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani.

Speaking to us about the film, Shabana shared, “Safia/Safdar is Baba Azmi’s second directorial venture and is releasing on January 16. It stars Naseeruddin Shah, Kanwaljit Singh and Aditi Subedi. The film follows a young girl who rises to the challenge of providing for her family after her father is struck by paralysis. Aditi is from Mijwan, the village where I run an NGO called the Mijwan Welfare Society for the empowerment of the girl child.”

In an earlier conversation with us, the actor reflected on her approach to choosing projects across mediums. She had shared, “I am an actor, and I love to do everything. People often assume I am drawn only to art cinema, but that’s not true. I want to do mainstream cinema as well. I had a wonderful time doing Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, and it paid great dividends. But I’m greedy in a good way. I want more. I want to work with all kinds of filmmakers, independent as well as mainstream. I want the freedom to choose.”

She also spoke about how her early career shaped perceptions around women-led cinema. “When I started out, doing art-house films automatically placed me on a pedestal and put me in the same space as actors like Hema Malini. Had I begun in mainstream cinema, it would have taken much longer to reach that level. When I started winning National Awards, female actors realised there was respect and value in this space, and many began exploring it,” she said.