Shabana Azmi Reveals She Was Hesitant To Do Fire: ‘I Felt It Would Be Used Against Me…’ – News18

Last Updated:November 05, 2024, 08:48 IST

Shabana Azmi revealed how she was hesitant to work on Deepa Mehta’s Fire. She said how she felt that the film would be used against her due to its sensitive nature.

Released in 1996, Deepa Mehta’s Fire was the first mainstream Bollywood movie to show a lesbian relationship. The movie starred Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das in the lead roles. Upon its release, Fire attracted several controversies and protests but it went on to be loved by the critics. In a latest interview, Shabana revealed that she was hesitant to work on the film because she felt that it would be ‘used very heavily’ against her.

In a conversation with India Today Digital, Shabana Azmi revealed that even though she liked the script of Fire, she was still hesitant to work on the project. She mentioned how she was afraid that the movie would be used against her as she was working in the slums. She said, “I felt that this would be used very heavily against me, because as it is, the husbands of the women that I was working with used to think that I was a very bad influence on them. I would ask them to make their own decisions and stuff like that.”

Shabana mentioned that her family supported her and urged her to do the film. She mentioned how her husband Javed mentioned that she should do the film as it would start a conversation. She recalled how she received the biggest support from her step daughter Zoya who was around 18 years old at that time. She continued, “I told her, ‘We were offered this, and I don’t know what to do.’ She asked, ‘Do you like the script or not?’ I said, ‘I like the script very much.’ She said, ‘Then?’ So I said, ‘But this is a subject.’ She said, ‘So?’ At 18, she said this! I thought, look at the way the young think and look at how we think. I felt moved, and I felt that this would be done sensitively, which it was done.”

She mentioned how she agreed to do the film because it could start a conversation around homosexuality. The film went on to become one of Shabana’s most loved movies.

On the work front, the actor was last seen in Ghoomer. She will be next seen in Rajkumar Santoshi’s Lahore 1947.