How it started
Baba was born into a film family, with father Kaifi Azmi being a lyricist and sister Shabana actively doing acting in films, but he was not sure if he wanted to be a part of movies. Baba recalls, "When I was a teenager I had no idea what I wanted to do. My first cousin, Ishan Arya (Telugu film director) asked me, “What are you doing in life?’ I said - nothing. And he asked me if I would like to accompany him for a film’s shooting in Hyderabad. I agreed. Once there, I got hooked onto cinematography.” Baba worked on his first film with Ishan as a light boy and continued to work with Ishan for 10 to 12 another Telugu films.
In 1979-80, Baba bagged his first independent Hindi movie in Bapusa’s film, Arjun. Baba says, “Bapusa is my guru. I understood cinema better under his guidance.” After Arjun, Baba did several films like Bezubaan, Anokha Bandhan, Dil, Beta, Mr India, Akele Hum Akele Tum among many others.
His father's son
Baba says that it is great being Kaifi Azmi’s son. He says, “On the immigration counter at the airport or even in a small village, people approach me and ask – Are you Kaifi Azmi’s son? The warmth and the love in their eyes always overwhelm me.” He remembers that growing up in the Azmi family meant many evenings of creative discussions with poets, filmmakers, actors and other creative people. Baba says, “Those discussions have definitely helped me create an aesthetic taste. As children we were never discouraged from being a part of these conversations, never told – go sleep, you need to wake up early in the morning. These conversations have truly helped.”
Special films
Of all the films that Baba has worked on, he picks 3 films that are dearest to him. He explains, “My first independent Hindi movie Arjun. I was appreciated for my work. One particular scene that shows thousands of black umbrellas together was particularly praised.” He adds, “Another one is Tezaab. It was a Mumbai film. I understood the characters, the lingo of the film and could relate to it as the movie was set in my city. And I have to say that Pyari Behna is also special– I met my wife Tanvi while working on this film.”
Looking forward to…
Baba is currently working on a Chirag Paswan and Kangana Ranaut starrer film titled One and Only (working title). “Hopefully, early next year I will start shooting my directorial project that will be produced by Farhan Akhtar’s production house. I will not be doing the camera work for this one as I guess I will be a little nervous to handle both, direction and cinematography,” he says with a smile.
Passion for everything cinema…
Baba says emotionally, “I am not the kind who just wants to concentrate on my bit in the movie and walk out. I like to get involved in the movie. And the effort is to understand the script and the characters better and try to accurately understand the director’s vision for the movie.”
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