Halo: Shabana Azmi shares her first ‘colour blind casting in the west’, fans say ‘surely you were most talented there’

Shabana Azmi has unveiled the first look from her Hollywood live-action series, Halo. The actor will be seen as Admiral Parangosky in the Steven Spielberg-produced series. Sharing her still from the show, Shabana said it was her first “colour blind casting” in the West. Halo is set to release on March 24 this year. Also read: Shabana Azmi welcomes ‘Mrs Akhtar’ Shibani Dandekar into family, shares epic fam-jam moment

Sharing the still on Twitter, Shabana wrote, “As Admiral Margaret Paragonsky in #HALO- my first colour blind casting since I started working in the West 34 years ago. What a struggle it’s been for Asian actors. Releasing on 24th March.”

She shared the same post on Instagram and was hailed by her industry colleagues for her portrayal in the show. Vidya Balab cheered for her, “Yoohoo.” Farhan Akhtar reacted, “Can’t wait.” Zoya Akhtar shared hands raised and fire icons in the comments section. 

A fan commented, “As a millennial, this feels so cool and nostalgic, and proud! Pretty sure you were the most talented actor in that group.” Another said, “Such varied roles. Common thread-all dignified!” One more wrote, “so waiting for this one.”

Shabana has a prominent roles in Halo, based on the popular video game series of the same name. She had earlier told HuffPost India in an interview, “My agent in London got in touch with me for this role. Initially, there was a date clash but thankfully things worked out. It’s a completely new territory for me as it deals with Artificial Intelligence. When my nephew first found out, he went O-M-G. Now, that expression singularly restored my faith in my own celebrity.”

She had confirmed that the role wasn’t small. “I want to be relevant. I don’t want to be a relic in a museum. My nephew and other kids in the family have been helping me with understanding Halo, the video game,” she said.