|
Thackeray is communalising Fire issue: Shabana
By G ULAGANATHAN
Hyderabad, Jan 12:
“Bal Thackeray is communalising the controversy over my film, Fire, because he has not been able to find support for the Sena men’s hoolganism,” Shabana Azmi said while addressing a press conference at the venue of the International film festival here on Tuesday.
To a question as to why there was so much delay in re-censoring the film as directed by the I&B Ministry, she said it may due to the fact that the film has already been censored as per the guidelines of the board and now may be they are waiting for fresh guidelines. ©
“Anyway the film is successfully running in about 40 centres and that itself shows that the people have accepted the film. Let us see if it will be recensored at all,” the actress said.
Hasn’t she played negative roles in both her recent films, Fire as well as Godmother? Is she not bothered about her image, a scribe asked.
“When I accept a film, I don’t see whether the character is positive or negative. I only see the challenges that the role is posing to me. Then I start preparing for the role,” she said.
Shabana defended the film fraternity spiritedly by saying, “After the Bombay riots, Dilip Kumar, Sunil Dutt, myself and many others protested and led the relief work. We do it every time there is a major crisis. And as members of Parliament, we bring it to the notice of the Government. Now we are planning to take a team of artistes to the troubled north eastern States,” she added. Looking back on her 25 years of acting career, she said it gave her the fullest satisfaction. “When I was a student of the Film Institute, I never planned my career. But even before I passed out, I had signed two films. And when I came out with the gold medal, the art cinema welcomed me with open arms. That was also the peak period of art cinema in the country and I became a part of it. Then the commercial films also gave me good roles.
“Now, fortunately in the Hindi cinema, they are accepting 40 plus actresses as protagonists. This was unimaginable 10 years ago. So, in a way I am lucky that I still get to play lead roles. I am happy to see this transition coming about and I have no regrets at all,” Shabana said.
|