Shabana Azmi on Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh as showstoppers at the Mijwan fashion show and more

Each year Shabana Azmi hosts a fashion show at her father’s native village in Mijwan which once was wilderness but is now a throbbing hub of activity, thanks to the efforts of Shabana and the Azmi family. Shabana speaks to Firstpost about this year’s fashion show in Mijwan on July 29.

This year it is Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh as showstoppers at the Mijwan fashion show. How close are you to the couple?

I’ve greatly enjoyed working with Ranveer Singh in Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani. When I requested him to be our showstopper this year he said yes in an instant, no questions asked. He had walked for our third Mijwan Fashion by Manish Malhotra at the start of his career and today is a big star recognised the world over. He epitomises the fledgling steps we took when we first started and are today a brand that is recognised not only in India but internationally. Deepika has walked for us before and is very sensitive to the issue of empowering women and the girl child. Both of them together are a real couple and we are excited beyond measure to have them.

Please tell me about your partnership with Manish Malhotra for the Mijwan fashion show?

The effort to harness the workforce at Mijwan has only strengthened in all aspects. We started with forty women today we have four hundred artisans. I feel quite chuffed that we were the first to bring the artisans on the ramp to walk alongside the stars .. today it’s being done by all the designers. Artisans are being given dignity and have been brought out of oblivion to share the credit of their exquisite craft with the stars who wear them. Manish has the humanity to understand that this is their livelihood and is lenient with the inconsistencies that can sometimes come with work that is made by hand as compared to machine-made stuff. They in turn adore him so we really are one big Mijwan family.

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Are the artisans and weavers going to be at the fashion show?

The artisans are going to be present at the show as they do every time. I remember how empowered they feel to see the film stars wearing clothes that they have worked on. “Didi Shah Rukh Khan ne woh shervani pehni hai jo Maine Banai hai”(Shah Rukh is wearing the shervani I made”),” claims one excitedly while another says, “Anushka Sharma ka lehnga Maine banaya hai didi! Hum ne kabhi socha nahi tha ke hum aeroplane mein baithenge (I made Anushka’s lehnga never thought we would fly in a plane)” …It reinforces their self worth . Now that they are economically independent it has changed their equation in the family status quo and they are now looked upon as assets rather than liabilities

Did you think the Fashion Show at Mijwan would become an annual event?

Frankly, when we first started I thought it would be a one-off event. But it is to young Namrata Goyals credit who runs the show along with me who brought Manish to visit Mijwan and worked on making it an annual feature. Namrata now holds the reins of the NGO and we have a very able team of professionals who run it. But we continue to work in the trenches with them and ensure complete grassroots involvement. It’s very easy to make buildings and create infrastructure.

Has it been a difficult journey?

What is difficult is to bring a mindset change. We have worked on building their self-worth. I remember when we first introduced them to menstrual hygiene and the use of sanitary pads rather than cloth which made them prone to reproductive tract infections there was immediate acceptance by the girls but resistance from their mothers who felt it was too expensive an alternative. But the girls insisted and got their way. It is the breaking of patriarchal mindsets that I think is our biggest achievement. We have smart classrooms, good science labs a professional badminton court made by the generous donation given by Rekha from her MP funds. However, to me, it is the power of decision-making that has been inculcated in them that is our biggest success. Two of our schoolgirls who walked the ramp with Shah Rukh and Anushka and voiced their dreams at the fashion show have now success stories to share. Aditi Subedi played the lead in my brother Baba Azmi’s film Mee Raqsam and won an international award as youth icon by the University of Southampton and Baithak UK and has also acted in Anubhav Sinha’s Bheed . She is at MIT university Pune and the world is her oyster. Shweta Prajapati did her graduation in acting at Mahatma Gandhi University Wardha and is now an actor in Mumbai. This to me is a success.

Your father would be so proud of what you achieved in Mijwan?

We have provided education to 6,900 girls so far and employment opportunities to more than 1000 women artisans who continued to get work during the pandemic as they were receiving bulk orders for making masks. We distributed free ration kits to marginalised communities and facilitated 300,000 vaccinations. In total 750,000 community members were reached out through various Mijwan programs in the last two years. Furthermore, online classes were held for children at our school and we did everything we could to minimize the suffering.

What are your future plans in Mijwan?

To increase our reach to one million girls and women across UP and surrounding areas. To start an English medium school from KG to Grade 12. To start a skill academy for rural women entrepreneurs. Work with Government schools for improving the level of education until the 8th grade. Work in collaboration with local gram panchayat and government bodies

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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