Veteran actress Shabana Azmi’s career has been instrumental in bridging the gap between life and art. Having played key roles in parallel cinema in highlighting social issues several times, Azmi has garnered critical acclamation and many mainstream successes.
For her noteworthy contribution to the film industry, the actress even won around five National Film Awards for Best Actress, five Filmfare Awards and several international honours. Today, the seasoned actress is celebrating her 72nd birthday. On this special occasion, here’s taking a quick look at some of her notable films and a few lesser-known facts about her personal and professional life.
- Ankur
Directed by Shyam Benegal, Ankur, the debut film of Shabaza Azmi released back in 1974. Based on a true story, the plot of the movie revolves around the life childless couple. The love story takes a tragic turn when a landlord’s son seduces the wife. Shabana Azmi bagged a National Award for portraying a bold role in the movie. - Godmother
Released in 1999, Godmother is a biographical movie inspired by the life of Santokben Jadeja, who ran the mafia operations in Gujarat back in the 1980s. The movie traces how she transforms her life to become a politician. - Paar
Directed by Goutam Ghose, Paar was adapted from the Bengali story Paari by Samaresh Basu. Starring Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, and Om Puri in the lead roles, the movie revolves around the life of a labourer who kills his landlord’s brother and flees from home with his wife. They soon realize that they can’t outrun the truth and decide to return home. - Arth
Shabana Azmi played the female lead in Arth which garnered her another National Award in the Best Actress category. Released in 1982, the movie was directed by Mahesh Bhatt, a semi-autobiographical about his extramarital relationship with Parveen Babi. Such was the popularity of the movie, it was remade in Tamil by Balu Mahendra under the title Marupadiyum.
Lesser-known facts about Shabana Azmi
- Shabana Azmi’s debut movie earned her a National Award. In addition to this, she bagged the same award three years in a row between 1983 to 1985 for Arth, Khadhar, and Paar. She has won 5 National Awards in total for her contribution to Hindi cinema as of now.
- Shabana Azmi dated Shekhar Kapur for a brief period after they met each other during the making of Dev Anand’s Ishk Ishk Ishk. The two were engaged but eventually ended their relationship.
- Shabana Azmi met Javed Akhtar when he was married to Honey Irani. In an interview, she said it was his intellect and wit that attracted her to him.
- It was Jaya Bachchan’s acting that motivated Azmi to try her luck in the movie industry.
