At Lonavla, at the outskirts of Mumbai, writer-director Khalid Mohamed (of Fiza) is shooting another film. Called Tehzeeb, it features Shabana Azmi and Urmila Matondkar as a confrontational mother and daughter battling it out on an emotional pitch. Arjun Rampal plays the man whom Urmila wants to marry and mother Shabana doesn't approve of.
The scene exuding great dramatic conflict has Shabana and Urmila exchanging strong words. Is this film based on Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata with Shabana and Urmila playing the roles immortalised by Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullman?
"Not really," Khalid protests. He has in the interim completed another film Taarikh featuring Raveena Tandon. "The film is based on a psychological case study. In fact some of my psychoanalyst friends have helped me with details in the script."
That particular day happens to be Urmila's birthday. And Urmila is nervous. "Shabanaji and I had come together as mother and daughter way back in Masoom. Now we are playing the same roles again. But with a difference. This time I know what acting is about. I can see the craftsmanship behind Shabanaji's performance. Frankly, I want to test out my outer limit as an actress in front of her."
The actress is also charged up about her next release Pinjar. "My clothes, hairstyle, makeup, walk, speech, everything has undergone a transformation," she promises. Before shooting, the senior actress invited Urmila home to quiz her about her interpretation of her role. "I didn't mind at all. This kind of passionate commitment only makes me more determined to do better than my best."
And what did the birthday girl do to bring in her birthday? "After finishing my day's shooting I drove to Pune to be with my family and the man in my life, my little nephew. He is the only man in the world who can make me dance to his tune," she chortles.
Urmila's lineup of films this year is interesting: while in Pinjar she goes back in history to Partition, in Teh
zeeb she does a contemporary piece with one of India's finest actresses. "Why only India? She is one of the finest in the world," she declares.
In debutant director Shreedhar Raghavan's Ek Haseena Thi, Urmila plays what she calls "an ordinary urban girl put in an extraordinary situation." In Ram Gopal Varma's paranormal thriller Bhoot, she is cast in what Varma describes as "the best performance I've ever seen in any of my films."
Urmila laughs off the compliment. "Right now, all I am thinking about is how to stand up to the hurricane called Shabana Azmi."
