Shabana Azmi encouraged Sonam to take up acting

Veteran actor speaks of her relationship with Anil Kapoor’s daughter

MUMBAI:

Actor Shabana Azmi said Anil Kapoor had asked her to dissuade daughter Sonam Kapoor from taking up acting as a profession but she instead encouraged the girl.

Speaking at the trailer launch of the upcoming Neerja on Thursday, Shabana said, “Anil had sent her to me and said that this girl wants to become an actor, please make her understand so that she changes her mind. And I agreed and told him that I would.” The veteran actor said Sonam was very thoughtful so she told her to continue with her studies and enroll at the London School of Economics. “When she came back, she said she wanted to be an actor. I told her: go for it, I will be with you all the way.”

Shabana further said Sunita (Sonam’s mother) approached her saying that Sonam wants to learn how to dance. “I introduced her to a Kathak teacher. Sonam is like a daughter to me. She has been my bachha since the time she was very young,” she said.



Shabana plays the role of Rama Bhanot, the mother of Sonam’s character Neerja Bhanot. Contrary to their off-screen relationship and the incidents that Shabana narrated, in the trailer the mother questions her daughter as to why she wants to become an air hostess despite doing well in the modelling industry. The two are seen sharing a close bond, with Rama later shown as being proud of Neerja’s career choice.

Directed by Ram Madhvani, the film is based on the 1986 hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 by Palestinian men when the plane was in Karachi. The storyline revolves around flight attendant Neerja Bhanot who was present in the aircraft. She died while saving passengers and was posthumously awarded India’s highest peacetime military award for bravery, the Ashok Chakra. At the age of 22, she became the youngest recipient of the laurel. A rescue operation was conducted with one of Pakistan’s most decorated soldiers, Brigadier Tariq Mehmood, leading the line. As many as 20 people died in the operation.

The Bhanot family gave Shabana the Neerja Bhanot Award in Chandigarh long before the idea of the film had come about. That is where she met the real life Rama for the first time. “I consider myself extremely fortunate that I met Rama. There was a certain connection that the two of us share. She came across as a big-hearted person,” said Shabana of her meeting.



Speaking about her character in the film, she said, “The central point of this character is that she is a very frank person. I’ve tried my best to portray this frankness on screen. My only aim is to portray the character with full honesty and without any manipulation,” she added.

Speaking on the occasion, Sonam said, “Anything that is emotionally challenging kind of makes you grow as a human being. You learn how to be better through everything especially if something pushes you beyond a certain limit. Anything that Neerja has brought into my life is being positive… it has not strained me. It has made me stronger.”

The event was also attended by several of Neerja’s family members. The film is slated for a 2016 release.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2015.

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