This cake was a joke,says Shabana husband

Last week,when actor Shabana Azmi turned 60,her lyricist-screenwriter husband Javed Akhtar ordered a cake designed as a slum.

Last week,when actor Shabana Azmi turned 60,her lyricist-screenwriter husband Javed Akhtar ordered a cake designed as a slum. It was apparently meant to represent her work for slumdwellers,but it sparked debates ranging from the representation of poverty in cinema to the way Bollywoods glamorous view Mumbais slums.

Akhtar has now responded to the criticism,saying those who are griping have failed to get his good humour.

Among the critics was Jockin Arputham,a winner of the Magsaysay Award. I cant believe that she was part of something like this…It is rather unpopular and against her simplicity, said Arputham,who has worked with slumdwellers for nearly four decades.

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Azmi too has crusaded for several years for affordable houses for slumdwellers. The cake,designed to look like a typical shanty-town with makeshift homes and open drains built of icing sugar,bore a signboard that said: Shabana Nagar: Galli No 60. Akhtar gifted it at a party at a Juhu hotel,attended by Bollywoods biggest names including the Bachchans.

Online responses to a foreign newspaper article mostly said the cakes design was tasteless. Many of those who attended the party didnt wish to speak about it Thursday. Some said they hadnt even caught a glimpse of the cake at the crowded venue.

Following the criticism,Azmi suggested Akhtar be contacted,and he said,It was a surprise I planned for her. She is so serious and driven about her work all the time,at times we who are close to her feel like pulling her leg . It was a joke and should be treated as nothing else. It does not in anyway mean she does not take the people she works for any less seriously. She did not even know about it and now she is all confused with these reactions…

People should not sit on a high horse and make judgments about us. Shabana has shown in the last 20 years that there is perhaps no one in the country and even in Asia who is as committed to the causes she takes up.

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He also posted a blog on Twitter: We who know her dedication for this cause often make fun of her in good humour. If someone doesnt want to understand this,so be it. In another tweet,he said,Those who,given half a chance sit on a high horse or start beating the pulpit,must introspect. Are they selflessly working for any cause?

Hours after the party ended,Amitabh Bachchan too tweeted on the party. On the cake,he said: Javed Sahebs gift to Shabana a cake designed like a slum!! Touché!!