One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several genres.
34 Facts About Shabana Azmi
2.
Shabana Azmi has won a record five National Film Awards for Best Actress, in addition to five Filmfare Awards and several international accolades.
3.
The daughter of poet Kaifi Shabana Azmi and stage actress Shaukat Shabana Azmi, she is an alumna of Film and Television Institute of India of Pune.
4.
Shabana 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.
5.
Shabana Azmi is married to poet and screenwriter Javed Akhtar.
6.
Shabana Azmi is a Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Population Fund.
7.
Shabana Azmi was born into a Shia family, in Hyderabad, India.
8.
Shabana Azmi's parents are Kaifi Azmi and Shaukat Azmi, both of whom were members of the Communist Party of India.
9.
Shabana Azmi's brother, Baba Azmi, is a cinematographer, and her sister-in-law, Tanvi Azmi, is an actress.
10.
Shabana Azmi was named at the age of eleven by Ali Sardar Jafri.
11.
Shabana Azmi's parents had an active social life, and their home was always thriving with people and activities of the communist party.
12.
Shabana Azmi 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, Pune.
13.
Shabana 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.
14.
Shabana Azmi played Lakshmi, a married servant and villager who drifts into an affair with a college student who visits the countryside.
15.
Shabana Azmi was not the original choice for the film, and several leading actresses of that time refused to do it.
16.
The film went on to become a major critical success, and Shabana Azmi won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance.
17.
Shabana Azmi 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.
18.
Shabana Azmi's acting has been characterised by a real-life depiction of the roles played by her.
19.
Shabana Azmi mainly acted in experimental and parallel Indian cinema.
20.
Shabana Azmi was the initial choice for Deepa Mehta's Water, which was planned to hit the floors in 2000.
21.
Shabana Azmi had to shave her head with Nandita Das to portray the character of Shakuntala.
22.
Shabana Azmi starred in Hollywood productions such as John Schlesinger's Madame Sousatzka and Roland Joffe's City of Joy.
23.
Shabana Azmi debuted on the small screen in a soap opera titled Anupama.
24.
Shabana Azmi portrayed a modern Indian woman who, while endorsing traditional Indian ethos and values, negotiated more freedom for herself.
25.
Shabana Azmi toured the UK, Dubai and India with British production Happy Birthday Sunita by Theatre Company RIFCO Arts in 2014.
26.
Shabana Azmi was engaged to Benjamin Gilani in late 1970s, but the engagement was called off.
27.
However Shabana Azmi's parents objected to her being involved with a married man with 2 children.
28.
Indian actresses Farah Naaz and Tabu are her nieces and Tanvi Shabana Azmi is her sister-in-law.
29.
Shabana Azmi has been a committed social activist, active in supporting child survival and fighting AIDS and injustice in real life.
30.
Shabana Azmi has participated in several plays and demonstrations denouncing communalism.
31.
Shabana Azmi has campaigned against ostracism of victims of AIDS.
32.
Shabana Azmi has acted in more than one hundred Hindi films, both in the mainstream as well as in Parallel Cinema.
33.
Shabana Azmi has appeared in a number of foreign films, most of which have won international acclaim, including John Schlesinger's Madame Sousatzka, Nicholas Klotz's Bengali Night, Roland Joffe's City of Joy, Channel 4's Immaculate Conception, Blake Edwards' Son of the Pink Panther, and Ismail Merchant's In Custody.
34.
Shabana Azmi has received the National Film Award for Best Actress five times, making her the overall most-awarded actor in the function:.