Mahesh Bhatt's directorial Arth is allegedly inspired by his extramarital relationship with Parveen Babi. The film featuring Shabana Azmi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, and Smita Patil was massive hit upon its release in 1982. However, an interesting fact is that Bhatt didn’t have any script while making the movie. Shabana Azmi recently revealed the director was going through a personal crisis and had no script for Arth.
Shabana Azmi attended the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival and during a session she recalled, “Mahesh Bhatt was going through a personal crisis. We didn’t have a script, we had a story idea, and as we were shooting it went along, it was all very ad hoc. I would wear my clothes and turn up on sets. But there was something inside him. It was like he would press a button and immediately I would start, the experience was amazing.”
She went on to add, “For instance, if he would give me a difficult scene to do, and expected me to do it right away, I would say, ‘I can’t do it’, he would say, ‘Artificial conflict is not allowed, we don’t have time, you better do it.”
Shabana Azmi also spoke about Arth on her Instagram handle. She shared a video featuring pictures of herself in different moods. She recalled that Mahesh Bhatt had told her Arth would change her life and she agreed to it. In the caption she wrote, “When #MaheshBhatt offered me #Arth he said “This film will change your life”. It did. Will be watching it with the audience on the big screen after decades. This is the magic of film festivals.”
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