‘Break’ point for Shabana Azmi

Actor Shabana Azmi’s new play is titled Broken Images. Going by her present situation, it seems it’s an apt title for the actor has broken, in other words fractured, her left foot while performing for the play in Mumbai. Shabana points to the foot and says, “The fracture is near the first two toes. I can’t move without a wheelchair and crutches.”

Recounting the day when the incident happened, Shabana says, “I was rushing down the stairs and I fell down. I twisted my ankle. A doctor was immediately called and he advised me complete bed rest. But I had a show of the play that day (March 7). My mother (Shaukat Azmi, former stage actor) insisted that the show must go on and told me to ignore the pain and perform. I went on the stage with a limp and performed. But when I came down the stage, I could not move my leg. The doctor said there was a fracture.”

Though Shabana says the ‘fall’ on that day was due to an imbalance, she admits that her cholesterol, triglycerides (that choke the heart’s arteries) are at an all-time high, due to the 12 kgs that she had put on for Gurinder’s Chadha’s next film. “I could have done the role with padding but then I couldn’t think of my character without the three love handles on the stomach. But putting on weight and then losing it has played havoc with my body,” ends Shabana.