In her remarkable 55-year career as an actor, Shabana Azmi has never played a negative character. That is about to change. In director Nitin Kakkar’s Awarapan 2, Shabana has been cast as the film’s villain.

Shabana Azmi on playing her first-ever villain role in Awarapan 2: 'It's a moral about-turn'

Shabana Azmi on playing her first-ever villain role in Awarapan 2: ‘It’s a moral about-turn’

Currently shooting in London for a clandestine project, Shabana took time off to speak exclusively about her villainous turn. “Where did you hear this? I’m not supposed to speak about it,” she says with a laugh. “Yes, it is quite a moral about-turn. I have always wanted to play the villain. I have played a morally compromised character years ago in B R Ishaara’s Log Kya Kahenge. I was cast as a woman who kills her stepson. But never a villain. So yes, this is fun. Mogambo khush hua,” Shabana jokes, referencing the iconic villain from Mr India.

For Shabana, 2025 has been a year of renewed challenges. “I got to work with Sunny Deol and director Raj Kumar Santoshi for the first time in Lahore 1947. I have never cried so much on screen before. The woman just weeps and weeps. I don’t know when the film will release—you’ll have to ask the producer, Aamir Khan.”

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