'Shabanaji will chew me up' Urmila will play Azmi's daughter in Khalid Mohamed's Tahzeeb

Subhash K Jha

Twenty years after they worked together as mother and daughter in Shekhar Kapur's directorial debut, Masoom, Shabana Azmi and Urmila Matondkar will reprise the roles in filmmaker Khalid Mohamed's new film.

Tahzeeb is a dramatic mother-daughter tale reminiscent of Swedish maestro Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata. Shabana plays the Ingrid Bergman role. Urmila will play Azmi's daughter, which Liv Ullman played in Ingmar Bergman’s film.

According to Mohamed, the celebrated critic turned director, "The screenplay is inspired by the case studies of a psychoanalyst friend who also assisted me with the script."

For Urmila, the film comes at a crucial juncture in her career. According to her mentor, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, Urmila's performance in Bhoot -- his latest film -- "is the finest any actor has given in any of my films."

"In my opinion," he continued, "Urmila has evolved into a powerhouse actress, one of the best we have. In 2003, she will really come into her own. Not just in Bhoot she is simply stunning in Ek Haseena Thi (produced by Varma) and Chandraprakash Dwivedi's Pinjar where she is totally transformed."

"It is too early to talk about my film with Khalid," says a cautious Urmila. "I am biting my nails about facing Shabanaji. She will chew me up."

"I have acted with Shabanaji as a child in Masoom and Bhavna. I wasn’t her daughter in the latter," she says.

She was supposed to do Mohamed's Fiza, a role which went to Karisma Kapoor eventually.

Mohamed had completed shooting his second film Taarikh with Raveena Tandon in the lead. Unfortunately, it has been shelved.