Shame on you, Shabana Azmi…

Shabana Azmi, in my opinion, is the finest actress Indian film industry has ever produced. She has probably surpassed the legends like Nargis, Meena Kumari and Waheeda Rehman, because she has been the most versatile out of them. Yet, all of them happened to be Muslim. All four earned name and fame and of course money, unrepresented in any Muslim society. Forget about in the Islamic world, no Muslim performer has ever achieved so much in life, with the exception of Omar Sharif in Hollywood. Shabana has challenged the sensibilities of conservative Hindus in her films but no ‘Hindu Fatwas’ were issued. Overwhelming support from the people of India kept her going for more than 3 decades. At the end of the day, this is her acknowledgment to the love and support from the people of India.

“I wanted to buy a flat in Bombay and it wasn’t given to me because I was a Muslim and I read the same about Saif (Ali Khan). Now, I mean, if Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi cannot get a flat in Bombay because they are Muslims, then what are we talking about?” – 17 Aug 2008, 0037 hrs IST, TNN

Shabana, you should be ashamed of yourself for making such a bigoted statement. Are you planning to join Hurriyat Conference in Kashmir? Only traitors like them could make such an outlandish statement. Whom are you trying to sell this trash to? From Mahboob Khan and K Asif to Shahrukh Khan, you are the first Muslim celebrity in Bombay to have accused the city of such discrimination. A couple of years back, Shabana Azmi had a conversation with Charlie Rose (an American talk-show host) in which she counted the virtues of Indian democracy. You may watch the video below, half-way (at 35.20 minutes) onwards. What happened in the meantime that a virtuous democracy suddenly became a discriminatory society? Or, is it that Shabana is basically a hypocrite? You judge her for yourself.