“Nowadays  I’m Living Out Of Suitcases,”  Shabana Azmi Sighs  Before Taking Off To Be Honoured At The Nantes Film Festival

Shabana  Azmi is  in and out of cities  these days .Shabana Azmi’s  50 year journey   as an actor continues to be  celebrated  all over the world. Now  it is at the Nantes Film Festival in France.

Sighs the  formidable  actress, “Nowadays I  am  living in suitcases. Itni  travelling toh maine pehle  kabhi nahin kee hai.”

Her work has consistently found favour in France where retrospectives of her films have featured at George Pompidou Centre, Cinematheque , and earlier at Nantes festival

of  three  continents where Godmother was the opening night film in 1997.In 1989 At the Biennale of Human Rights in France she was chosen as one amongst sixteen  women including Mother Teresa , Rigoberta Menchu , Albertina Sisulu , who were honoured by President Mitterand for her human rights work for slum dwellers  and women’s rights activist and for using cinema as a medium of social change.

At  the prestigious Nantes Film Festival, a major cultural event,  Shabana  will be honoured with a retrospective of her films that include Ankur, Mandi , Arth and Masoom celebrating her glorious 50-year career in Hindi Cinema.

Speaking to this writer  just before she flew  off to France, Shabana  said, “I am become  increasingly embarrassed  by this torrent of praise. To hear people praise you so much is very flattering  but also sobering.  There is  so much  more I  want  to do,so many roles  and so many other activities  that remain  unattended. At the same time  I am very very grateful  for all  the  attention. I feel I’ve  just begun.”

So here  is to another  50 years  of Shabana .