Shabana Azmi, 75, gets two films on the same day, Batwara 1947 vs Awarapan 2: ‘I’m very grateful’
Published: August 13, 2026, 3:21 PM IST
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Shabana Azmi in Awarapan 2 and Batwara 1947 (Pic Collage)
Legendary actress Shabana Azmi is set to showcase two very different sides of her acting on the big screen this weekThe veteran actor will have two theatrical releases arriving on the same day, August 14 – Rajkumar Santoshi’s Batwara 1947 and Nitin Kakkar’s Awarapan 2. While one film sees her play a central character in a Partition drama, the other features her in an antagonist role.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Shabana said she feels fortunate to still be getting such varied roles at 75“To be offered such diverse parts at this stage of my career is pure luck, for which I’m very grateful,” she saidShe also recalled that the last time she came close to having multiple releases around the same time was more than four decades ago“There was a time when Avtaar, Masoom, Kaamyab, and Yeh Nazdeekiyan were released within a fortnight of each other,” she said“But that’s because actors were working in 8-10 films at the same time, and double shifts a day were a regular occurrence,” she added.
Shabana also remembered the hectic working conditions actors faced during that eraShe recalled how a late legendary actor-filmmaker had jokingly called his younger brother and her Junoon co-star Shashi Kapoor “taxi” because he would work four to five shifts a day and spend so much time in his car“I wonder if any of our younger actors can even imagine the lack of basic facilities and reams of dialogue we were required to mug up, with less than 10 minutes given to emotionally prepare for a shot,” the actor said.
Shabana Azmi plays an antagonist in Awarapan 2
In Awarapan 2, Shabana will be seen as Nafisa, the antagonist opposite Emraan Hashmi, Disha Patani, Suvinder Vicky and Aniruddh RawalUnlike a loud or aggressive portrayal, the actor chose to approach the character in a more controlled wayShe described her performance as “indulgently rather than all fuming and blazing,” adding that power is most effective when it is “understated.”
The film also brings together Shabana and the Vishesh Films banner decades after Arth (1982)She agreed to be part of the project through director Vishesh Bhatt, whom she has “known since he was a child”.
Shabana Azmi on Batwara 1947
In Batwara 1947, Shabana shares the screen with Sunny Deol for the first timeThis comes three years after she worked with his father Dharmendra in Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem KahaaniThe film also marks her first collaboration with director Rajkumar Santoshi.
Talking about her character Mai, Shabana said, “The character I play, Mai, is quintessential Mother Earth – warm, loving, and strong, yet vulnerableRaj ji was very clear how he wanted her to be played, and I went along.”
Based on Asghar Wajahat’s play Jis Lahore Nai Vekhya, O Jamya E Nai, the film is set during PartitionShabana plays an elderly Hindu woman who refuses to leave her ancestral home in Lahore even after the property is allotted to a Muslim family that has migrated from India.
Speaking about Partition and its impact, Shabana described the drawing of the Radcliffe line as “one of the most traumatic events in our history.” She also said that the “veil of silence” adopted by the first generation to cope with the tragedy eventually made it difficult for younger generations to fully “understand and metabolise what actually happened.”
