Shabana Azmi

Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre.

Her career in the Hindi film industry has spanned over 160 films, mostly within independent and neorealist parallel cinema, though her work extended to mainstream films as well as a number of international projects.

One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several genres.

She has won a record five National Film Awards for Best Actress, in addition to six Filmfare Awards and several international accolades.

She explained the reason she decided to attend the film institute, saying: "I had the privilege of watching Jaya Bhaduri in a (Diploma) film, Suman, and I was completely enchanted by her performance because it was unlike the other performances I had seen. I really marvelled at that and said, 'My god, if by going to the Film Institute I can achieve that, that's what I want to do.'" Azmi eventually topped the list of successful candidates of 1972.

Azmi graduated from the FTII in 1973 and signed on to Khwaja Ahmad Abbas' Faasla and began work on Kanti Lal Rathod's Parinay as well.

Azmi made her film debut in 1974 with Ankur and soon became one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema, then a new-wave movement of art films known for their serious content and realism and sometimes received government patronage.

Several of her films have been cited as a form of progressivism and social reformism which offer a realistic portrayal of Indian society, its customs and traditions.

In addition to acting, Azmi is a social and women's rights activist.

She is married to poet and screenwriter Javed Akhtar.

She is a Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA).

In appreciation of Azmi's life and works, the President of India gave her a nominated (unelected) membership of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament.

Azmi was born into a Shia family, in Hyderabad, India.

Her parents are Kaifi Azmi (an Indian poet) and Shaukat Azmi (a veteran Indian People's Theatre Association stage actress), both of whom were members of the Communist Party of India.

Her brother, Baba Azmi, is a cinematographer, and her sister-in-law, Tanvi Azmi, is also an actress.

Azmi was named at the age of eleven by Ali Sardar Jafri.

Her parents used to call her Munni.

Baba Azmi was named by Prof. Masood Siddiqui as Ahmer Azmi.

Her parents had an active social life, and their home was always thriving with people and activities of the communist party.

It was not unusual for her to wake up in the morning and find members of the communist party sleeping about, from a previous night's communist social that ran late.

Early in childhood, the environment in her home inculcated into her a respect for family ties, social and human values; and her parents always supported her to develop a passion for intellectual stimulation and growth.

Azmi attended Queen Mary School, Mumbai.

She completed a graduate degree in Psychology from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, and followed it with a course in acting at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

Her first release, however, was Shyam Benegal's directorial debut Ankur (1974).

Belonging to the art-house genre of neo-realistic films, Ankur is based on a true story which occurred in Hyderabad.

Azmi played Lakshmi, a married servant and villager who drifts into an affair with a college student who visits the countryside.

Azmi was not the original choice for the film, and several leading actresses of that time refused to do it.

The film went on to become a major critical success, and Azmi won her first National Film Award for Best Actress and her first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance.

Qurratulain Hyder wrote that Azmi lives her role and acts like a seasoned dramatic actress in her first film.

She went on to receive the National Film Award for Best Actress consecutively for three years from 1983 to 1985 for her roles in Arth, Khandhar and Paar.

In Mandi (1983), she acted as a madam of a whorehouse.

For this role, she put on weight and even chewed betel.

Real-life portrayals continued in almost all her films.

These included the role of a woman named Jamini resigned to her destiny in Khandhar and a typical urban Indian wife, mother and homemaker in Masoom (1983).

She mainly acted in experimental and parallel Indian cinema.

Deepa Mehta's Fire (1996) depicts her as a lonely woman, Radha, in love with her sister-in-law.

The Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri in 1998 and the Padma Bhushan in 2012.

The daughter of poet Kaifi Azmi and stage actress Shaukat Azmi, she is an alumna of Film and Television Institute of India of Pune.

Godmother (1999) earned her a record-setting fifth National Film Award, taking her tally to five.

Azmi's acting has been characterised by a real-life depiction of the roles played by her.