Bring Indian textiles to Bollywood …advocates veteran actor Shabana Azmi, emphasising the need to encourage ethnic arts and crafts

Bring Indian textiles to Bollywood

…advocates veteran actor Shabana Azmi, emphasising the need to encourage ethnic arts and crafts

Veteran actor Shabana Azmi flew down from New Delhi to specially attend the Anita Dongre show at Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2012 over the weekend. The actor had come to support the designer as she presented a line based on Indian textiles. “I have been crazy about Indian textiles since I was a kid. I love what Anita’s doing by using organic cotton as well as her use of Benaras and ikat. Look at the number of farmers committing suicide; this is one way it can be stopped,” says Shabana. She further emphasised the need to encourage Indian arts and crafts. “Silhouettes will always be copied, but what is uniquely Indian is our craft, our textiles and that’s something we need to notice. The easiest way of popularising something is making your characters in a movie wear it. The first thing people notice from a movie is the hair and the clothes, so if you want to bring change (Bollywood) is the place to start,” adds Shabana. Looking refreshingly different with her new cropped do, Shabana says, “My hair was slightly longer for a film I had done for Vishal Bhardwaj —Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola — and after I finished with the film, I went to my daughter-in-law, Adhuna (Akhtar). She is the only one who touches my hair, so she asked me if I want a trim or want to go very short, so I thought why not short since I’m not shooting till October. I have to say I’m quite delighted with the new do.” She promises this year we will be seeing too much of her on screen. “I’m in Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Deepa Mehta’s Midnight Children, Vishal’s next and another film that I’m starting in England, which is titled The Tail That Wagged The Dog. So you will have more than enough of me,” she smiles.