Veteran actor Shaukat Kaifi dies at 93

Mother of actor Shabana Azmi and cinematographer Baba Azmi, Shaukat was married to the celebrated Urdu poet and film lyricist late Kaifi Azmi

Well-known theatre and film actor Shaukat Kaifi passed away in her Mumbai home on Friday.

Shaukat acted in many plays and was a celebrated name in theatre.(HT FILE)

Kaifi’s son-in-law, veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar, confirmed the news of Shaukat’s death. “She was 93 and was having one problem after another. For certain days she was in the ICU and then she was out of ICU. It was all age-related,” he said.

“Ultimately they brought her home. She wanted to come back to her own room she stayed for a day or two and then passed away. Shabana is in Mumbai,” Akhtar, who is in the US, told PTI.

The last rites will be held Saturday noon.

Mother of actor Shabana Azmi and cinematographer Baba Azmi, Shaukat was married to the celebrated Urdu poet and film lyricist late Kaifi Azmi. Kaifi and Shaukat were leaders of the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) and the Progressive Writers Association (IWA). After the mid-1950s, Kaifi found success in Hindi films as a writer and lyricist and owing to his association in Bollywood, Shaukat, too, ended up featuring in over a dozen films. She is remembered for her roles in MS Sathyu’s Garm Hawa, Sagar Sathadi’s Bazaar and Muzaffar Ali’s Umrao Jaan. Her last film was the Vivek Oberoi-Rani Mukerji starrer Saathiya.

Shaukat acted in many plays and was a celebrated name in theatre. After her husband’s death in 2002, Shaukat wrote an autobiography, Kaifi And I, which was later adapted in to a play Kaifi aur Main.

Besides Shabana Azmi, Kaifi is also survived by son Baba Azmi.