Archive · 13 Aug 2026
Shabana Azmi's Batwara 1947, Awarapan 2 Release Same Day
Shabana Azmi is a very famous Indian movie actress who has been acting for a long, long time.
She is 75 years old, but she is still working a lot.
On August 14, two movies with her in them will be released on the very same day.
The last time that happened was way back in 1983.
One movie is called Batwara 1947, and it is about Partition, when India and Pakistan were split into two countries.
In that movie, she plays a grandmother who does not want to leave her home in Lahore.
The other movie is called Awarapan 2, and it is an action and love story where she plays a character who helps the villain.
She also went to New Delhi to support students who said a big exam paper was leaked, and she got sick with a bad cough afterward.
Even though she is sick, she is still very excited about her two new movies.
Shabana Azmi, 75, will have two films release in cinemas on August 14: Rajkumar Santoshi's Partition drama Batwara 1947 and Nitin Kakkar's romantic action thriller Awarapan 2.
Azmi said her films last released close together over 40 years ago, when Avtaar, Masoom, Kaamyab, and Yeh Nazdeekiyan came out within a fortnight in 1983.
In Batwara 1947, she plays Mai, an elderly Hindu woman who refuses to flee her ancestral haveli in Lahore during Partition, sharing screen space with Sunny Deol for the first time.
In Awarapan 2, she has a 'special appearance' as Nafeesa, an antagonist opposite Emraan Hashmi's Shivam Pandit, alongside Suvinder Vicky and Aniruddh Rawal.
Azmi recently supported protesting students at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak, and battled asthma, H1N1, and bronchitis afterward.
- Who
- Veteran Indian actress Shabana Azmi and the filmmakers Rajkumar Santoshi, Nitin Kakkar, and producer Vishesh Bhatt.
- What
- Two of Azmi's films — Batwara 1947 and Awarapan 2 — release on the same day, marking her first such double release since 1983.
- When
- August 14, with her previous same-fortnight releases occurring in September-October 1983.
- Where
- In cinemas; the article also references New Delhi's Jantar Mantar protests and Lahore, Pakistan, where her Batwara 1947 character's ancestral haveli is set.
- Why
- Azmi said she was lucky to be offered such diverse parts at this stage of her career, and she accepted Awarapan 2 because of her long association with producer Vishesh Bhatt.
- Actor
- Shabana Azmi (age 75)
- Film 1
- Batwara 1947, directed by Rajkumar Santoshi
- Film 2
- Awarapan 2, directed by Nitin Kakkar
- Release date
- August 14
- Last double release
- 1983 (Avtaar, Masoom, Kaamyab, Yeh Nazdeekiyan within a fortnight)
- Batwara 1947 source
- Adaptation of Asghar Wajahat's play Jis Lahore Nai Dekhya O Jamyai Nai
- Recent health issues
- Asthma attack, H1N1 diagnosis, and bronchitis after tear gas at Jantar Mantar protests
- Notable co-stars
- Sunny Deol (Batwara 1947); Emraan Hashmi, Suvinder Vicky, Aniruddh Rawal (Awarapan 2)