Shabana Azmi Shares How Her Kanjivaram Saree At Cannes Made Everyone Watch Shyam Benegal's 'Nishant'

Bollywood's veteran actress, Shabana Azmi, along with late actress, Smita Patil, were among the first few stars to attend the iconic and prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 1976. Shabana shared a vivid memory of attending the event with Smita for Shyam Benegal's film, Nishant and recalled how both of them collected an audience for their movie. Shabana shared how it was Benegal's idea to make them wear a Kanjivaram saree.

Shabana Azmi shares how she collected an audience for her movie, Nishant

Shabana was one of the first actors, along with Smita, to go to Cannes. That was not a crossover. They did not even have the money to purchase their sarees. They were supposed to get the advertising materials for the Nishant film, and Shabana realised at Cannes that it had not arrived. During an interview with Filmfare, Shabana remembered how she and Smita had to get an audience for their film, Nishant. She shared how Benegal gave them the idea to wear their Kanjivaram saree, which attracted the audience to the film. In her words:

"Cannes mei everything really is about parties and big advertising and all that. So we sat down with some, what are we doing here? What are we going to dop? So Shyam Benegal being an advertising man he said Smita aur Shabana tumlog apne best Kanjivaram sariyan pehenke bindi lagake just at 9.00 in the morning just start walking on the boulevard."

Shabana Azmi remembers having no money for Nishant's publicity

Shabana had shared that Cannes had for Nishant back in 1976, they had no publicity material and no money, so Benegal's idea of making them wear a saree and walk up and down the promenade attracted a lot of attention. Both actresses did the movie during the Golden era of cinema, and Shabana noted:

"And we said alright. Then we went and everybody would turn around and look at us. And the minute they would look at us, we said please hamari film hai. Please aap 6 baje aajaiye. We had a housefull with just that. And it worked. I mean it was really amazing."

More about Shabana Azmi's film, Nishant

For the unversed, Nishant was released in 1975 and was directed by Shyam Benegal. The film was based on a screenplay which was original and penned by Vijay Tendulkar. Apart from Shabana and Smita, the movie also had Naseeruddin Shah, Girish Karnad, Amrish Puri, Mohan Agashe, Anant Nag, and Sadhu Meher. Back in 1977, the film won the  National Film Award under the category of Best Feature Film in Hindi. It then got selected for the iconic Palme d'Or, which took place at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival. The film was also selected for the London Film Festival (1976), the Melbourne International Film Festival (1977), along the Chicago International Film Festival (1977).

On the work front, Shabana was appreciated for her role in Shekhar Kapur's What's Love Got to Do With It. She was seen with Lily James, Emma Thompson, Sajal Ali, Shazad Latif, and Rob Brydon, to name a few. Her role in Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, was appreciated, which had Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Dharmendra and Jaya Bachchan. 

What do you think of Shabana Azmi's appearance at Cannes?

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