'This is my first Kiss with a Man'

By Subhash K Jha

Shabana Azmi has a secret. She has done her first screen kiss in Reema Kagti's Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd…Or so it would seem, until Shabana's roisterous laughter stops you with, "What's a kiss with Boman? I've kissed Nandita Das in Fire. Watching me do a normal kiss, you'll heave a sigh of relief.

It's a very innocent sweet, meetha, and non-controversial kiss…I had a ball doing Honeymoon Travels. My kids (Farhan and Zoya Akhtar) are involved with it. I've a very small part."

About her unusual pairing with Boman, Shabana says, "Boman plays this Christian Goanese guy. I play this Muslim woman. He plays a brash man. My character is more genteel. I love my look in this film. I keep telling the clothes designer Arjun Bhasin that after this film he won't be getting any more assignments.

All of us are so atrociously dressed by design. For Arjun's sake I hope the film industry gets the point, or this is the end of his career. Jokes aside, it's a great feeling to dress according to character.

But when my mother saw these clothes she freaked out. 'Please Shabana taqleef hoti hai!' she told me. Arrey, she can dress any way she wants for a part. Why not me?"

It was a great pleasure for Shabana to play this nondescript character who emerges as a person in her own right.

"This Goanese guy who's her husband wants to make her happy. He keeps reciting sher in wrong Urdu. Such a sweet tender meetha relationship…The kiss comes in when he reaches his ancestral house to see it being dismantled.

That's when I move towards him. He kisses me right in the middle of the street. Will my audience be shocked? I think not! I think Boman was far more terrified than I was."

Shabana is all praise for her director Reema Kagti. "Because she has been an efficient AD, she has this quality of getting whatever she wants by hook or by crook. Other first-time directors are ready to commit suicide if they can't get the shot they want. Not Reema. She always had an alternative plan."

Shabana recalls that one shot with Boman which couldn't be done. "There's always that one shot in every film which remains a problem till the end. It was a simple scene on a beach featuring me and Boman. The first time it couldn't be done because I had to go to the United Nations for an award.

I stayed back for the scene. It didn't happen. Then I gave up Holi in my house—you know how important Holi is to me—to do that scene. Again, nahin hua. When we finally did it, and it had to be re-done."

This film was a lot of fun to do for Shabana. "Doing an ensemble piece was a total pleasure. And I've done two of them back to back. The first one was The Loins Of Punjab (earlier called The Contest) directed by Manish Acharya. The one thing that an ensemble cast teaches you is endless patience.

You are an extra in every scene. If you get bored of being an extra you harm the film. Fortunately Goa where we shot the film didn't give any of us a chance to get bored. We all did such dhamaal…playing antakshari, dumb charade.."

Shabana describes her Honeymoon partner Boman Irani as an endlessly curious man. "He's such a movie buff. He knows every detail of every film. I'd just sit back and wonder what sort of a Parsi is this who knows everything about Hindi films. He speaks non-stop. He'd pretend all the time that I was scolding him.

But Boman and I had a ball. All the young girls in the unit wanted to be around Boman, and the all the young boys hovered around me. So we were both deeply flattered."

Shabana loved the entire cast. "Particularly Sandhya Mridul who has the most delicious sense of humour. I just adored being around her. And then Raima Sen … wohek apne type ki cheez hai. And I'm so proud of my child Zoya Akhtar. I always wondered how she'd be as a director.

Watching her handle the unit of Honeymoon Travels as a producer I could see her capabilities. My God, this girl is absolutely amazing. To see an adult with all the correct values emerging from your child, is a really rewarding experience."

Ending with the kiss Shabana says, "You know my kids have put the kiss in the trailer. Zoya and Farhan say they're going to exploit me commercially. Thank you so much."