A waiter in Kolkata wanted to touch my hand because of my father: Shabana Azmi

One of the high points of the penultimate day of the 25th Kolkata International Film Festival was Sumantra Ghosal’s Kaifinama: A Celebration of the Art and Times of Kaifi Azmi. To present the film on Sayyid Akhtar Hussein Rizvi, better known as Kaifi Azmi, the poet, writer and lyricist’s daughter, Shabana Azmi, came to Nandan, sending movie lovers into a tizzy.“I had the opportunity to direct Shabana Azmi in two films, for both she got national and international awards,” said director Goutam Ghose, who ushered Shabana to the stage along with Sumantra. Talking about the film, Sumantra, a name to reckon with in the ad world, said, “I don’t know why she chose a Bengali bhodrolok to make a film on an Urdu poet. The year I made the film, for me, it became a journey into a man’s heart and mind.”
Shabana said she was happy to present the film to Kolkatans on the birth centenary of Kaifi Azmi as the film delves into the life and times of the poet. “It is unusual to introduce a film and recite poems ahead of its screening. But there is a Kolkata connect in this. Long back, I was having dinner at a restaurant in Kolkata and a waiter came up to me and said: ‘May I touch your hand?’ I was surprised, but he continued: ‘Years back, I was depressed and felt suicidal. My friend took me to a mushaira where Kaifi Azmi was reciting poems. I was so taken in that I decided to give life a second chance’,” she said.
Giving a peek into his personality, the proud daughter said, “Kaifi was revolutionary and a romantic. Every morning, my mother and he would spend some alone time. Everyone knew it was their time. On one such day, he wrote the poem,
Ek Lamha.” A few lines from the poem go like: ‘Aaj tum kuchh na kaho/Aaj hum kuchh na kahein/ Bas yuhi baithe raho haath mein haath liye’. After reciting the poem, Shabana laughed and said, “My mother was talkative and my father was used to long silences. So, my brother joked that ‘aaj tum kuchh na kaho’ was something that my father wanted, but never got.” Before the screening began, Shabana also recited Kaifi’s Aurat, the translation of which was read out by Sumantra.