Feels great to reunite with Shabana: Girish Karnad

Padma Bhushan awardee Girish Karnad is delighted to reunite with veteran actress Shabana Azmi after 23 years for "Chalk N Duster".

"One of the factors that appealed to me about the film was my personal angle of working with Shabana. Around 40 years ago, we acted together in 'Nishant'. Then we went on to do more films like 'Swami', 'Shama' and numerous other films. And it feels great to come again to work with her. I'm possibly retiring, I don't know, so it feels nice to be able to work with Shabana and to hit the same kind of rapport with her," he told IANS.

The film features not just Shabana, but also her husband Javed Akhtar who has penned the lyrics of the songs for film, while her brother Baba is the film's cinematographer.

"I've been very close to the family. Shabana and Javed have been very dear friends. And also with Baba, who I didn't really know. So coming into this film is like coming into a family," Karnad said.

Karnad, who predominantly acts in south Indian films, also feels that "Chalk N Duster" is a "great comeback to Hindi films", which he genuinely enjoyed.

The film also features Juhi Chawla, Anupam Kher, Jackie Shroff, Zarina Wahab, Aarya Babbar and Divya Dutta.

Highlighting the hardships of teachers, "Chalk n Duster" not only throws light on their day-to-day lives, but also talks about the education system and society norms.