Arth still relevant today: Azmi

Actor Shabana Azmi (right), who played the role of a woman who leaves her husband after learning about his extramarital affair in the film Arth (1982), believes that the film would have been still relevant in the current scenario. She adds that she wouldn’t want to make any changes to the film, except a few.

“I don’t think I would want the script to change much for it to be understood in the current times. I think it’s still as relevant as it was back then. The only thing that I wish could probably change was Smita Patil’s character. It can be more rounded and less negative as it probably was in the original,” she says.

Azmi won the National Award for the movie and adds that it was a pathbreaking film which talked about women empowerment. “After the film released, many men were angry. Many of them called me and told me that I was teaching married women to walk out of their house! They asked me how can you show that a wife can walk out on her husband. The film raised many questions and that’s why I believe it has stood the test of time and is still relevant now,” she adds.

PHOTO: ABHINAV SAHA/HT Smita Patil and Kulbhushan Kharbanda in a still from Arth