Shabana Azmi is ridiculously good: Atul Kasbekar

Celebrity photographer and film producer Atul Kasbekar is all praise for veteran actress-activist Shabana Azmi, and says she is ridiculously good.

Kasbekar worked with Shabana in "Neerja" -- a biopic on Neerja Bhanot, the valiant Pan Am flight attendant who saved a number of lives when terrorists hijacked a plane to Karachi in 1986. The film was helmed by Ram Madhvani.

"The only person that Ram did not work with was Shabana Azmi. Because she is so ridiculously good! He kept pulling stunts on her, and finally she lost her calm and told Ram to do whatever he needed her to do instead," Kasbekar said in a statement.

"She is a work of art. I've never seen such a high level of nuance before. The famous speech at the end of 'Neerja' which is shot in a classic way had 7 retakes, and whoever was listening had tears streaming through their eyes," he added.

Kasbekar spoke about "Neerja" when he introduced "Miss Sloane" for the third edition of &Prive HD's &Prive Soiree, a regular on-ground engagement by the channel.

Talking about the process of filming "Neerja", he said: "So, Ram would tell Sonam to learn a Rajesh Khanna song, and she would ask him why so. He would just say, you'll know tomorrow."

"He would tell Jim Sarbh to go there, basically bully her and ask her to sing something. If you now see the movie after me telling you this, you will now understand the mastery of this," he added.

--IANS

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