 Andrabi was furious because
Basu is known for revealing her voluptuous curves,
playing vamps who scheme to steal other women’s
husbands, and her long-term affair with heart-throb
actor and male model John Abraham.
Andrabi decided to sue the makers of
Lamhaa, a Bollywood blockbuster
about the plight of Kashmir and the
lives of militants fighting Indian
rule, when she discovered Basu had
been cast to play her character.
She had held a number of earlier
meetings with the film’s producer,
she said, in which he reassured her
she would be truthfully portrayed
and sympathetic to the struggle of
Kashmiri separatists.
Andrabi became a militant women’s
leader in the early 1980s and formed
her own group, Dukhtaran e Millat
(Daughters of the Nation) to
campaign against families who
married off their poor daughters,
the payment of dowries and
pornography. She led a group of
activists who defaced Bollywood
billboards showing revealing
pictures of actresses like Basu.
She believes Kashmir should be
allowed to leave the Indian union
and join Pakistan, though she says
there are only two countries in the
world – “Muslims and non-muslims” –
and advocates jihad to advance the
power of Islam.
In her private life, she is
married to a notorious Kashmiri
militant, with whom she has two
children, she observes purdah and
wears a burqa in public. She has
said that a woman’s place is in the
kitchen, cooking for her family.
She consulted lawyers when she
read newspaper reports that she
would be played by Basu in the film.
Her worst fears were confirmed when
Basu arrived in the Kashmiri capital
Srinagar with Bollywood leading man
Sanjay Dutt to begin filming.
Andrabi was furious because Basu
is known for revealing her
voluptuous curves, playing vamps who
scheme to steal other women’s
husbands, and her long-term affair
with heart-throb actor and male
model John Abraham. Playing Andrabi
will be her most challenging role
yet.
“I don’t want to see my character
played by a woman like Bipasha Basu
who prefers to be seminude most of
the times. She might be glamorous
but she is an undignified woman and
is part of the immorality spreading
industry – Bollywood. I am a
religious woman who believes in
Islamic values, observes purdah and
refrains from evil deeds. More
importantly I am the only Asiya
Andrabi on this earth, so let it be
just one,” she said.
According to Andrabi, the
director has reneged on his earlier
promise to show her a copy of the
script before shooting it.
Basu is reported to have walked
out on the director last week,
claiming she was in danger but had
not been given sufficient security
to feel safe. The producers have
denied that any character in the
film is based on Andrabi.
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