Why can't a strong woman be a romantic person as well: Shabana Azmi

It's not like strong women don't have a romantic bone in their body, says actress Shabana Azmi, wondering why her kiss with Dharmendra in Karan Johar's latest Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani has generated the buzz it has.

In the film, Alia Bhatt's Rani and Ranveer Singh's Rocky meet each other while searching for the connection that their respective grandparents once shared. The Azmi-Dharmendra romance plays out to old Hindi songs in the film.

Azmi, 72, said she is happy audiences, especially young people, have embraced the much-discussed kiss.

"I think the maximum comments that I'm getting are like, 'Oh wow, we would have never imagined you in this kind of role and you carry it out with such grace'. Grace is the word that comes up often," Azmi told PTI in an interview.

In her view, the kiss generated so much debate probably because "it's such an unexpected thing".

"You're not prepared for it in any way at all... But I am like 'why is this so surprising'... An actor who has a strong woman image, why is it not possible that she can also be a romantic person? It's not like strong women don't have any romantic bones in their body.

"I think it's the deliciousness of it that has taken people by surprise and they just adore it. It's the younger generation that's really doing all the clapping and cheering." Azmi said Johar, who she has collaborated with for the first time in a movie, kept telling her to trust him. She got similar assurances from the film's costume designer Manish Malhotra, who has dressed her in the loveliest of the saris for the movie.

"It needed some willing suspension of disbelief. And Karan kept saying, 'trust me', 'trust me'. Manish Malhotra kept saying, 'trust me'. So, I said, 'All right, I'm surrendering to you all. And if people throw stones at me, then I'm going to pick up those stones and throw them right back at you'," Azmi recalled with a laugh.

The film, which she calls a "studied risk" by Johar, is doing well with all the critical and commercial acclaim coming its way.