I had to keep up with the young team - Shabana Azmi

Shabana Azmi, who plays a cameo in the Indian remake of the thriller series 24 with Anil Kapoor in the lead, says, she has never worked so hard for a long time. “We would start work at 7am and I would get really exhausted at the end of the day. I had to keep up with the young team. But then I enjoyed every moment,” says the veteran actress. Known for her powerful roles in films like Arth, Masoom and Mandi, Shabana will be seen playing the role of an anti-terrorist officer on par with Anil Kapoor. Apparently, her character will take over Jai Singh Rathore’s (played by Anil Kapoor) job of fighting terrorism when he is not available, that is, when he goes missing in action. Comparing the working style in the television series like in theatre, Shabana further said, “Like in plays once we are ready and we have to perform one complete scene with no cuts, it was the same with this series. Scenes were not distributed in small segments like in movies which was the biggest challenge and all the actors benefitted from it.”Shabana has done television in the past, she acted in the fiction show Anupama, but this will be one of the strongest roles that she has played on television.