MODERN Love

SHABANA AZMI HAS DEFINITE IDEAS ABOUT LOVE AND MARRIAGE. SHE DISCUSSES SOME OF THEM WITH TANISHA BHATTACHARYA

- TANISHA BHATTACHARYA

Watching Shabana Azmi in What's Love Got To Do with It?, the British romantic comedy directed by Shekhar Kapur, you're struck by how easy she makes acting look. It gives you the feeling that the camera doesn't exist for her. The film deals with the concept of 'assisted marriages'. Shabana plays the matriarch of a Pakistani family settled in Britain, who wants the best bahu for her son. It's a movie about finding true companionship the old world way in an age of hookups and Tinder. Though it's ironic that Shabana, who was known for her rebellious streak, is playing a mother who guns for a traditional marriage. But an actor's job is to defamiliarize the familiar, and vice versa, so maybe personal views don't count. Ask her that and she surprisingly admits she isn't horror-struck by the concept of arranged marriages as she once was. Has she mellowed, or what? Excerpts from an engaging interview with the actress who has mastered the art of pushing the envelope...

YOU’RE WORKING WITH SHEKHAR KAPUR AFTER QUITE A GAP…