Neelima Azim on son Shahid’s Padmavati look!

Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movie Padmavati starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, is one of the hottest movies nowadays in the Indian box-office market. Shahid Kapoor’s first look Maharawal Ratan Singh, the ruler of Mewar, trended on social media for a day. His mother Neelima Azim is not just a mother but a dancer and actress too and a keen observer of Shahid’s ability as an actor. But she was stunned with emotions when she saw his look in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati.

When questioned Neelima what she felt about Shahid’s look in Padmavati, she reveals, “As a mother and as an artiste my reactions are two entirely different things. As a mother I am terribly awed, overwhelmed and very happy with his look as its spectacular. As an actress I am very impressed as there’s a lot of hard work that has gone into it. I am a huge fan of Mr Bhansali’s films and have watched them all. I think he’s a great maestro, he’s a master of his art and his films are always extremely artistically portrayed. I think he is the only filmmaker that can mount a film as grandly as he does, whether historical or love stories like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Khamoshi or triangles. He’s a great filmmaker who is upping his game in every film. The last film he did Bajirao Mastani was absolutely brilliant and fascinating and now he’s coming up with something more powerful in Padmavati.”

Neelima tells she was over-the-moon when her son signed Padmavati. “I was thrilled when Shahid signed Mr Bhansali’s project and I also knew that he would do something magnificent with my son. Shahid as an actor today is being observed keenly because he is very talented and Mr Bhansali’s fine sense of casting and his ability to draw out a fine performance from Shahid will be intriguing and exciting to watch as an artiste. I was very excited about the film but now that I have finally seen the outcome of Shahid’s look in the poster, I love it! What I really like about Shahid is the fact that he’s really looking like a very handsome Rajput king that he’s playing, in that particular attire and whole look of the character.”

Neelima finds not just Shahid’s look sensational but the expression that the filmmaker has been able to capture in Shahid’s eyes. “I love that - woh joh ek kaifiyat (a quality) hoti hai na aankhon mein, woh hai unke chehre mein (that particular expression that should be there in his eyes, is there on his face)… It was fascinating as his eyes look very intense and mysterious. What I found unique was that there is something internalized in his eyes – something poignant… You can in a picture see how he’s so caught up with what’s going on as a king and a human being – that nobility and dignity which befits the stature of a character was coming across because of his humanness. To be able to portray that in a photograph is huge which means Shahid is so involved in his character – he is living Maharawal Ratan Singh so I think that’s wonderful. And that whole royal look suits him so well. Shahid is not looking a man of these times but like somebody from those times. Bahut khubsoorat laga mujhe…”