Tabu couldn’t believe Gulzar wanted to cast her for Maachis

Tabu turns 52 today and over the years with her performance in films like Maachis, Chandni Bar, Haider, Virasat etc she’s proven why she is a stalwart in the field of acting. But not many are aware that it was with Maachis she had turned to meaningful cinema, before that she was part of only mainstream and commercial cinema like Vijyapath, Prem, Saajan Ki Baahon Mein, Haqeeqat, Himmat, Jeet etc.Gulzar, despite the films' stark differences between what she had done till then and what he intended to do with Maachis, considered Tabu the perfect choice for the role of Veeran. He saw her as the ideal candidate to portray the transformation of a simple Punjabi girl into a militant.
Gulzar then reached out to Tabu’s aunt Shabana Azmi to express interest in casting her for the film. Recalling the incident during her conversation with Mid-day Tabu shared that she couldn’t believe that Gulzar Saab wanted to cast her. She had been a fan of his films in which people are real and still they are leads.

Tabu also recalled her first meeting with the legendary writer- director and mentioned that when she went to meet him, he was having a cold and was writing something, so she just sat there for an hour constantly thinking what he would say and how she would reply but no one spoke during the entire hour. So she excused herself and Gulzar Saab was like OK!, and after 2-3 days he called her to give her the script.
She also shared that after hearing the script, she couldn’t understand what she was going to do in the film, as the film was heavy and political. But, understood that it was a relevant part and it was like a drug. She also added that in Gulzar Saab, she found a home. He is somebody who is completely divorced from the craziness and predictability of the movie industry, he is calm and evolved.Tabu went on to win a National Award for Maachis.