Shabana Azmi bonds with Jaya Bachchan during crisis at Heathrow

SYED FAHAD AHMED

KARACHI: Last week Shabana Azmi's flight back from London to Mumbai was struck by lightening, but the veteran actress had the good fortune of running into Jaya Bachchan who was incidentally on the same flight. The incident marked the start of a perfect light hearted movie in which two 60-plus divas stranded in an unfamiliar land, bonded during the hour of crisis.

"Luckily the passengers had not boarded when lightening struck our flight. But it triggered off an interminable delay which would have been unbearable were it not for the company I unexpectedly found," Azmi said while recalling the distressing experience at London’s Heathrow airport.

After coming across her unexpected companion, Azmi spent the next 24 hours as ‘one of the most fun times of her life.’

"It was just providential. I don't know what I'd have done or how I'd have coped, had I not found Jaya among the stranded co-passengers," she added, "I just love Jaya's company. She speaks her mind, calls a spade a spade. We spoke about things that we can never discuss in Mumbai. We got the chance to bond, something that we rarely do in Mumbai."

"We were left unattended for hours. At 11:30pm, the counters were closed and at 12 midnight one simply had to leave the airport. It closes down at midnight. Simple."

"But it's not an airport crisis that I am likely to forget easily," she said while indicating her displeasure with the way the airport administration dealt with the crisis.