When Shabana Azmi Walked Barefoot From Parvarish Set To Her Home And Wanted To Quit Acting

Shabana Azmi recently delivered a notable performance in Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. The veteran actress has had a spectacular career in Bollywood and, over the decades, has been part of successful projects. But the road to success for Shabana Azmi was not as easy as it seemed. In a recent interview, the actress recalled a time on the sets of the 1977 film Parvarish when the popular choreographer Kamal Master humiliated her in front of many junior artists for her inability to pick up the dance routine. The incident affected her so much that, for a moment, she decided to quit acting.

In a podcast with writer Adi Pocha, Shabana Azmi narrated the entire incident from the sets of Parvarish. She said, “I cannot dance to save my life. I have two left feet. I had asked Kamal Master, he was a choreographer. I said, ‘Please give me rehearsals.’ He said rehearsals is not needed. You just have to clap.” The actress was relieved and went to the sets, where she found out that it was a well-synchronized dance performance. Shabana Azmi added, “It was so frightening because I was with Neetu Singh. Even before I could figure out where I had to put my right foot, and left foot, Neetu would have done two rehearsals and sat over there.”

What happened next on the sets, demotivated Shabana from trying to establish herself in the film industry. She said that as she was very nervous, she told the choreographer, Kamam Master, that the dance routine was “complicated” and asked if they could change it a bit. The actress narrated, “There were a lot of junior artists on the sets. He said, ‘Okay, lights off. Now Shabana Ji is now going to teach Kamal dance master what steps to do’. It was so humiliating and bad that I just ran off the set. I was in these ghastly clothes. I went to find my car, but it was not there. In those clothes, I started walking barefoot to my house in Juhu, crying away and saying, ‘I am not going to work in any film anymore. I just don’t want this humiliation.”

Shabana Azmi claimed that it was Parvarish director Manmohan Desai who afterwards apologized and consoled her along with the producer. The actress added that the next day, even Neetu Singh inquired about what transpired on set. The famous playback singer Sulakshana Pandit was the one who explained to Shabana Azmi that the leading actress in the film was more important than the choreographer, and this motivated her to continue her career in the film industry.

Parvarish was a crime thriller that also starred Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Amjad Khan, Kader Khan, and others. Shabana Azmi made her acting debut in 1974 with Ankur and has worked both in mainstream and parallel cinema.