The daughter of Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi and actress Shaukat Azmi, Shabana Azmi was perhaps destined for a life in film and theatre. Her parents were also members of the Indian Communist Party and Shabana has combined her career as an actress - having appeared in over 120 Hindi and Bengali films - with social activism. She has campaigned on a number of issues including HIV / AIDS and also women's rights. Since 1997 she has also been a nominated member (ie. not directly elected member) of the Rajya Sabha - the upper house of the Indian Parliament. You can see why I was drawn to her.
Recently, she has been touring the UK with Rifco Arts - an award-winning British Asian Theatre Company. In the play 'Happy Birthday Sunita', Azmi plays the mother Tejpal Johal. In the Woman's Hour interview, Jenni Murray started by asking Shabana what drew her to the script. Her response:
'....because I thought it had a very simply message that would reach out to older women and I have been working with women for a long time now. So, that was something that attracted me – it’s an uplifting play. Plus the fact that Rifco Arts itself is a charity – it is funded by the British Arts Council and what I really appreciate about it is that it has successfully weaned away what was largely a Bollywood-watching audience into regular theatre–goers. They have done that by telling stories about the British Asian community located in situations that they understand by keeping the tickets rates really low. And since I come from a theatre background, to me that is an extremely important contribution that Rifco Arts is doing'.
Jenni Murray then went on to ask Shabana what was it about the character that fascinated her, that was so special about her? Shabana's reply really struck me:
' Because I know many women such as Tejpal Johal who have really struggled very hard and made enormous personal sacrifices to keep the family going. Her husband has been away, she has brought up in a strange country 2 children on her own. She works in a surgery and she has really never been anything other than ‘Mum’ for the family – they have just seen her in the stereotype of what a mother is – which is basically just serving them food and looking after their needs. And she then says that I have played by the rules of the game. I have done all I have to do. You are all grown up now. I am now going to follow my dreams because all along I have been told that women who speak their minds are dangerous and so I have kept quiet. But keeping quiet hasn’t made my life any better. And so she springs a surprise on the family and suddenly comes alive as just a person rather than just ‘Mum’ as you have seen her. And I have seen that in so many women and I have seen they become invisible in a way. They fit into a slot, they make your life convenient and they’ve never looked beyond that. And suddenly there is a spark and you realise, my God, they are special women'.
I found this reply so moving - because, exactly as she says, the reality for many women in traditional families is that they are the ones who are in the background, who keep the family together, the 'show on the road'. They cook, clean, do the washing - all to smooth the paths and facilitate the lives of their children, husbands and relatives. But where are their dreams? Where are their hopes and aspirations? And once they are not there, the family realises just how special their invisible Mums actually are.
'Happy Birthday Sunita' - is currently about to head overseas to Dubai, Delhi or Mumbai though is set to return to the UK next year.
http://rifcoarts.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04l3nnp
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