Acting out

Azmi is gearing up for the release of her movie with Gurinder Chadha,It’s a Wonderful Afterlife,a role for which she famously put on 25 pounds. “I enjoy eating. So putting on weight was not such a difficult task,” she informs us,“It was taking it off that proved difficult. And obviously,my doctor was very unhappy with me,” she says,“But those are things you have to do when you’re an actor.”

In the movie,Azmi plays Mrs Sethi,a ‘nice,fat,Punjabi widow’ from Southall,London. “She wants her daughter to get married and believes that her girl is so full of virtue that nobody can reject her. But as it turns out,she’s wrong and the movie details how this mother goes about exacting revenge on the four suitors who dared to reject her daughter.

It’s funny and macabre and I had a wonderful time making this movie.”

This is the latest in a long list of comedies for Azmi,after Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd,Loins of Punjab Presents and Sorry Bhai!!. Is there something especially challenging about comedy that attracts her? “No,not really,” she says,“I think it’s just a phase. For some reason unknown to even me,I’m being offered roles in comedy films.”

These days,however,Azmi keeps herself busy with her father Kaifi Azmi’s pet project,The Mijwan Welfare Society for the Girl Child,for which she’d recently hosted a fundraising fashion show. “He is the single-most important influence in my life,” she reminisces,“I remember never being talked down to and being included in all the decisions.” But her father had his little quirks,from his obsession with Mont Blanc pens-“When he died,all he left behind were his 18 Mont Blanc pens and 5,000 books,”— to his penchant for carrying her to mill workers demonstrations — “As a child,the red flag of socialism meant ‘party time’ for me,because all the comrades would make such a fuss of me.”

However,despite being the daughter of a poet,and also being married to one,Azmi makes it clear that writing is not meant for her. “I tell people that I would rather be a poet’s inspiration,” she chirps,“And as for an autobiography,it’s such an exercise in vanity.”