Shabana Azmi reveals she wanted Jyotika replaced in Dabba Cartel: ‘It was my mistake’

For Shabana Azmi, working on Dabba Cartel was a ‘ghar ka maamla,’ as the show is produced by her stepson Farhan Akhtar and created by her stepdaughter-in-law Shibani Akhtar. “For me it was ghar ka maamla, bahu ne hukm diya, beta produce kar raha hai, meri aukaat ki main naa bolu? It was a fascinating character which came my way at this point and I got excited.”

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The veteran actor futher spoke about working with younger actors in Dabba Cartel. She shared, “I happened to be at the right place at the right time. The fact that I’m working with younger actors who are bringing in completely different sensibilities from mine is always exciting. Most of the young actors come with trepidation that, ‘What will happen next?’ They realise soon that there’s nothing like that and they become so comfortable that I have to remind them, ‘I’m your senior, behave yourself.'”

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Shabana Azmi also commented on the growing prominence of casting directors in the Hindi film industry. She said, “For me, the advent of the casting director has brought a huge change… Look what the casting director has done. They have freed Hindi cinema from stock characters. So, we have got the most fascinating faces which are authentic. And what that does also to mainstream actors is when you are surrounded by authentic characters, you also start sort of pulling up your socks.”

The actor added, “One of my favourite examples is Rishi Kapoor in Karz. It was such a huge hit. But you can see that he’s not playing the guitar, he’s just drumming it. He’s not doing anything with the chords. Today, it is impossible. I don’t think any actor could get away and I don’t think that any actor would think it is okay. The actor would take on the challenge and learn. This, in itself, is growth of actors all around and the fact that we are now taking many more interesting faces and that the stories don’t have to be only about a pretty boy and a pretty girl. That’s brought a huge change both for men and for women.”

Dabba Cartel will stream on Netflix from February 28.