Shabana’s bonding with Jaya Bachchan at Airport!

Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi

Shabana Azmi and Jaya Bachchan hardly meet as their busy schedules barely leave them with any time together. But the two actresses got a chance to bond after they were left stranded at London's Heathrow Airport.

Shabana was to fly back to Mumbai from London when her aircraft was struck by lightning, leaving her stranded.

"Luckily the passengers had not boarded when lightning struck our flight. But it triggered off an interminable delay, which would have been unbearable were it not for the company I unexpectedly found," told Shabana.

Luckily for Shabana, Jaya was also due to travel by the same flight.

"It was just providential. I don't know what I'd have done or how I'd have coped I hadn't found Jaya among the stranded co-passengers," said Shabana.

And as they got together, Shabana and Jaya spent the next 24 hours having the most fun time of their lives, until an alternative flight was arranged.

"I just love Jaya's company. She speaks her mind, calls a spade a spade. We spoke about things that we can never discuss in Mumbai. We got the chance to bond, something that we rarely do in Mumbai," Shabana told.

However, Shabana isn't too pleased with the way the London airport handled the crisis.

"We were left unattended for hours. At 11.30 p.m. the counters were closed and at 12 midnight one simply had to leave the airport. It closes down at midnight. Simple," she said.

"It's not an airport crisis that I am likely to forget easily," she further added.

Shabana Azmi’s 'Tumhari Amrita' completes 20 years!

Shabana Azmi and Farooque Sheikh

Actors Shabana Azmi and Farooque Sheikh will stage "Tumhari Amrita" in Mumbai and New Delhi, as the popular play completes 20 years since it was staged for the first time.

"'Tumhari Amrita' at IHC Delhi on Sunday 26th Feb and Taj Land's End Fort on Monday 27th Feb to mark the twentieth year of the play. Seems unbelievable," Shabana wrote on her Twitter page.

The play, first directed by Feroz Abbas Khan, is a love story narrated through love letters exchanged between the lead characters over 35 years.

Pankaj Kapoor and Shabana team up again for Vishal Bhardwaj's "Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola"

Shabana Azmi, Pankaj Kapoor

The casting of Vishal Bhardwaj's "Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola" (MKBKM) just got more interesting. The movie already boasted of an interesting cast comprising Pankaj Kapur, Imran Khan and Anushka Sharma and now Shabana Azmi is on board.

"I am the hugest fan of Vishal's work as a music composer and as a filmmaker, and so is my husband (lyricist Javed Akhtar). Yes, I am cast opposite Pankaj Kapoor who is an exceptionally talented actor," told Shabana.

She is paired with Kapur and this is Shabana's first movie with the talented Pankaj since the highly-acclaimed "Ek Doctor Ki Maut".

"Technically, we've done two films together in the past. But I didn't have any scenes with Pankaj in 'Mandi'. We were together as a couple in 'Ek Doctor Ki Maut'. Pankaj was completely brilliant in that. It's always a pleasure to work with a challenging actor," told the veteran actress.

There have been many attempts to bring these two super-talented actors together but all were foiled by scripts that either one or both didn't like.

Actually when Bhardwaj, who has earlier worked with Shabana in his first directorial venture "Makdee", offered her the part in MKBKM, she begged off wondering what would there be in it for her.

Earlier this week, Shabana went through a looks test for her part in the movie. She will be sporting a very unusual look in this comedy where nothing is as it seems, including the actress.

Hopefully Shabana's makeup would make her look less scary than she did in "Makdee".

The Padma Bhushan actress laughed and told, "For the witch's role, Vishal and I went the whole hog. To this my poker-faced husband's comment was, 'To play a witch why did you have to put on makeup?' Can you imagine? My own husband," said Shabana.

Incidentally, the actress is one of the minuscule minorities who thinks Pankaj's directorial debut "Mausam" was noteworthy.

"Both me and my husband loved 'Mausam'. I think it has something to do with the Padma Bhushan. All recipients of the honour love 'Mausam'," she told

Step-mother Shabana Azmi praises Zoya Akhtar’s Direction prowess!

Director Zoya Akhtar

Shabana Azmi

Veteran actress Shabana Azmi is overwhelmed with her step-daughter Zoya Akhtar's prowess as a director, and tells she has loved her latest venture 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara', which will release July 15.

'I loved 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'. Zoya's work is wonderful and all performances great. Feel truly proud. Go watch it and seize the moment,' Shabana wrote on her blog.

The film features Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol and Katrina Kaif. It has been attracting a lot of attention for its songs, as well as fun-loving picturisation.

This is Zoya's second directorial project after 'Luck By Chance', which also featured Hrithik and Farhan.