Mumbai | Actor Shabana Azmi says her new movie "Batwara 1947" captures universal human pain through the story of one family during Partition and hopefully, films like this will prevent such a genocide from ever happening again.
In the Rajkumar Santoshi-directed film, Azmi plays a Hindu woman who is left behind in Pakistan after Partition. A Muslim family, who were forced to leave their home in India, are allotted the haveli. They decide to protect the woman despite facing hostility from religious fundamentalists in the area.
"The trailer got tears in my eyes. The film's spirit and its humanity is very beautifully captured in the trailer. I'm very proud that we made this film and I believe the film is coming at the right time," Azmi said at the trailer launch of the movie.
"The way the truth has been shown in it without taking sides, you are showing universal pain and have personlised it through the story of a family. The audience will feel its enormity. I only hope that we will learn better and films like this will prevent such a genocide from ever happening by showing the mirror and truth."
Sharing a behind-the-scenes difficult moment, the veteran actor said she found it challenging to shoot the emotionally intense sequence where her character is humiliated.
"There's a scene in film, where personally as a human being I felt humiliated and stripped of any dignity. You see a little glimpse of it in the trailer when the villain is dragging me and he tears my kurta. I don’t think I’ve ever felt vulnerable and exposed as I did as a human being at the moment,” Azmi said.
“When Sunny came and put a dupatta on me, in real life, as Shabana Azmi not just as mai, he became my son, and protector. I hugged him with every iota of my being, and I was like, ‘Thank god, he is there to save me’. So if as an actor with 50 years of experience I can feel one particular moment so truthfully because of my co-actor, it is bound to translate on screen, ” she said, thanking her co-actor for enabling a truthful performance.
Deol thanked Azmi and said he approaches every scene with complete honesty.
“I immerse myself in the character and believe in it completely. Shabana ji is playing my mother, and my character is such who is like, ‘If anyone lays a finger on my mother, I will tear the world apart’,” he said.
Produced by Aamir Khan Productions, “Batwara 1947”, will releases in cinemas worldwide on August 14.
