People forget that I have done humour: Shabana Azmi

Mumbai: It was the lightness of ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It?’ that drew her to the romantic comedy, said Shabana Azmi, who believes moviegoers don’t often associate her with humorous characters.

Azmi reunited with Shekhar Kapur, the director of her 1983 family drama ‘Masoom’, for his British feature project, which also stars Lily James, Shazad Latif, Emma Thompson and Sajal Aly.

“People forget that I have done humour. I mean, as far back as Shyam Benegal’s 'Mandi', with the monkey running after me and stuff like that. I did it also in ‘Honeymoon Travels’ and films like that. But yes, people don’t really associate humour with me, although I’ve done it,” the 72-year-old actor told the top news agency.

Light-hearted movies like ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It?’, Azmi believes, are the need of the hour.

“For me, the lightness of the film attracted me to do it strongly. In today’s times, I think to have something that is all heart and that is light and that makes you feel warm and lovely is an emotion we really need to hold on to,” she added.

‘What’s Love Got to Do with It’ is about Zoe (James), a modern British woman living in the messy world of ‘right swipes’ and ‘online dating’. Having constantly tried and failed to find ‘Mr. Right’, Zoe is intrigued when her childhood buddy Kazim (Latif) decides to tie the knot in the traditional ‘desi’ arranged marriage.