/> The activist side of Shabana remains as strong today as it was earlier.

"I was passionately involved in the BMC elections. I supported the independent candidate Adolf d'Souza. Only I lakh rupee was spent. I personally canvassed for him, visited slums and upper middleclass colonies. It's not my victory. It just shows what active participation by citizens can achieve.

The support Javed and I got from the film industry was so amazing. All it took was one phone-call to Anil Kapoor, Kirron Kher and Diya Mirza and they were on board. It was wonderful to see these people as residents of Juhu who genuinely cared for the city. I was very proud of the industry.

I feel as passionately for the smaller issues as the larger ones. I get very heartened by even smaller changes. I see the empowerment of the slum dwellers happening. And I'm overjoyed. "

She's also heartened by Deepa Mehta's Water going to the Oscars. She was originally to do the film before Saffron activists pushed the project out of India and Shabana out of the project.

Sighs Shabana, "The Oscar nomination is truly a validation of Deepa's work. And my God, how wonderful it would be if she really got the Oscar! It's a slap on the face for all those who didn't want Water to be made."

She recalls with a laugh her shaved head for Water. "If my husband had his way I'd gone around with a shaved head for the rest of my life. He fancied me without hair. I remember at Farhan's wedding I was completely bald with my head filled with sindoor. Rekha and Dimple looked at me and exclaimed, 'Babe you got guts.'

That, Shabana does.

Saddened by the death of her erstwhile colleague Vijay Arora, Shabana remembers, "Rajesh Khanna used to say Vijay Arora would be the next Rajesh Khanna, Vihay Arora was a gold medalist from the Film Institute. He was a gentle soul. I wasn't able to establish any rapport with him during our only film together Kadamabri aeons ago. What was he doing during his final years? "