Shabana Azmi never seems to tire of accolades. She is just back from the Dubai Film Festival, where her new film 5 Rupaiya was screened. A poignant story of a grandmother and her orphaned little grandson moved the crowd to tears.
Shabana confirms, “We had three screenings of 5 Rupaiya in Dubai; lots of people were moved to tears. I’ve seen such a reaction earlier to my work in Pravin Bhatt’s Bhavna and Mohan Kumar’s Avataar. The third screening was fixed for all delegates on the beach on a huge screen. It’s a sweet gentle film with an almost fairytale purity. Yohann Panjuani, who plays Hamid, my grandson, is a big hit.”
Shabana shot in Kashmir for debutant director Piyush Panjuani’s film, which is based on Hindi litterateur Munshi Premchand’s celebrated short story Idgah about an orphaned 8-year-old boy and his grandmother.
Set in Kashmir, the story Idgah, the story is regarded as one of the most secular pieces of literature created in the Indian subcontinent. Speaking of her experience of working in Kashmir, Shabana says, “I was shooting in a pristine valley called Nagin. It was peaceful, stress-free and highly conducive to creativity. I play a woman in the hills named Ameena, who is left looking after their only son Hamid. It’s a tender tale who is eight years old.”
