I wasn’t groomed by her to be an actor. She didn’t need to live her life through me. When I decided to become an actor she reserved her opinion of me till she saw Ankur at a private screening. She turned back to where I was sitting and exclaimed loudly, “Bete, tum bahut achchi actress ho aur tumne bahut achcha kaam kiya hai” without a thought that people in the auditorium must find it odd to hear a mother praise her daughter so unabashedly. A few months later we were watching a preview of Faasla. She turned around with determination and announced, “Had Faasla been the first film of yours that I saw, I would’ve packed you off in marriage to the first available man, to protect the film industry from having to suffer you!” Over the years the barometer of my performance became her appraisal of it. Good or bad, she would say it like it is. So when she praised my work in Mandi, Khandhar and Arth, it meant the world to me.
Shabana on Shaukat Kaifi
Published on: May 8, 2022 1:09 AM