'Why should I become a director?'

Actress Shabana Azmi, praised equally by the critics and the masses, is at her sparkling best in Aparna Sen's latest film, 15 Park Avenue, where she plays Anjali, a physics professor.

"She is a typical modern, intelligent woman who is hard pressed for time. The film tells the story of two sisters Anjali and Mitali, played by Konkona. She is my stepsister, 18 years younger, and schizophrenic. After her father dies, I become the only person who can look after her and our mother Rewa, played by Waheeda Rehman," Shabana says.

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The actress says she enjoys a rare comfort level with director Aparna Sen. "I do not wait for Aparna to offer me a role. I just grab it from her and bully her into casting me in her film.

"She now says I am also a liar because when she asked me whether I knew how to drive and use a computer, I told her I knew both, though I didn't know them at that point. I started learning only for my role!"

Does Shabana nurture any desire to become a director like Aparna Sen? Without batting an eyelid she replies: "As of now it is so easy being an actor. I enjoy my tenure as an actress not only in films but also international plays. Why should I become a director"?

Umrao Jaan

Shabana is playing Aishwarya Rai?s mother in J.P. Dutta?s Umrao Jaan. "That does not mean that for the sake of money I will be ready to do an inconsequential mother?s role in any and every Hindi film," she says quickly. She's agreed to play that role, she says, because her own mother, Shaukat Aappa, played reel mother to Rekha in Muzaffar Ali?s Umrao Jaan.

"It has been a completely new experience to step into my mother?s shoes in Umrao Jaan. Javed Siddique, who is known for his frank views, told me that it was very bold on my part to have agreed to play the role, which my mother had portrayed.

"Dutta?s film is a much more mainstream film than Ali?s and my role is quite substantial and better defined than the one which my mother had played."