By:
Subhash
K.
Jha,
IndiaFM
Thursday,
September
07,
2006
Her
forays
into
international
film
have
been
fairly
chequered
from
the
possessive
South
Indian
mother
of
the
piano
prodigy
in
John
Schlesinger's
Madame
Sousatzka
to
the
evil
conniving
princess
in
Blake
Edward's
Revenge
of
the
Pink
Panther...
Now
Shabana
Azmi
will
be
seen
playing
the
central
character
of
a
Bangladeshi
woman
living
in
East
London
in
the
film
Banglatown
Banquet.
Says
Shabana,
"It's
all
about
being
at
the
right
place
at
the
right
time.
If
I
play
the
protagonist
in
Aparna
Sen's
15
Park
Avenue,
I
also
play
the
protagonist
in
this
BBC
film.
To
have
these
opportunities
at
my
age
is
just
so
fortunate.
I
play
this
woman
whose
husband
gets
himself
another
wife.
Her
daughter
is
hopping
wife.
Finally
my
character
leaves
the
husband
and
comes
into
her
own.
But
it's
done
in
a
way
that
brings
in
a
lot
of
cultural
complexities.
She's
not
a
victim
at
all.
I
like
that.
It's
written
by
Tannika
Gupta
who
wrote
Waiting
Room."
The
film
is
directed
by
Hettie
McDonald
(who
made
that
beautiful
film
Beautiful
Thing
about
gay
love).
What
makes
this
project
even
more
interesting
is
the
fact
that
Ayesha
Dharkar
plays
Shabana's
daughter.
Earlier
Dharker
had
played
the
same
part
in
Roland
Joffe's
City
Of
Joy.