Birthday Wishes to Most talented actress of parallel cinema - Shabana Azmi

Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is the daughter of poet Kaifi Azmi and stage actress Shaukat Azmi. She is the alumna of Film and Television Institute of India of Pune.
After  graduating  from the FTII in 1973 she went on to sign on Khwaja Ahmad Abbas' Faasla and began work on Kanti Lal Rathod's Parinay as well. Her first release, however, was Shyam Benegal's directorial debut Ankur (1974). The film went on to become a major critical success, and Azmi won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her performances. She went on to receive the National Film Award consecutively for three years from 1983 to 1985 for her roles in movies, Arth, Khandhar and Paar. Another film Godmother (1999) earned her another National Film Award, taking her tally to five.
Some of her notable films are Shyam Benegal's Nishant (1975), Junoon (1978), Susman (1986), and Antarnaad (1992); Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khiladi; Mrinal Sen’s Khandhar, Genesis, Ek Din Achanak; Saeed Mirza’s Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai; Sai Paranjpye’s Sparsh and Disha; Gautam Ghose’s Paar; Aparna Sen’s Picnic and Sati; Mahesh Bhatt’s Arth; Vinay Shukla’s Godmother. Her other films include the commercially successful Manmohan Desai's Amar Akbar Anthony and Parvarish and Prakash Mehra’s Jwalamukhi. Azmi starred in Hollywood productions such as John Schlesinger’s Madame Sousatzka (1988) and Roland Joffe’s City of Joy (1992).
Azmi debuted on the small screen in a soap opera titled Anupama. She portrayed a modern Indian woman who, while endorsing traditional Indian ethos and values, negotiated more freedom for herself. She had participated in many stage plays, and notable among them include M. S. Sathyu’s Safed Kundali (1980), based on The Caucasian Chalk Circle; and Feroz Abbas Khan's Tumhari Amrita with actor Farooq Sheikh, which ran for five years. She toured Singapore on an assignment with the Singapore Repertory Theatre Company, acting in Ingmar Bergman’s adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll's House, which was directed by Rey Buono. Toured UK, Dubai and India with British production Happy Birthday Sunita by Theatre Company Rifco Arts in 2014.

Azmi has been a committed social activist, active in supporting child survival and fighting AIDS and injustice in real life. Azmi has voiced her opinion on a variety of issues. Initially, her activism drew skepticism and was dubbed by some as a publicity gimmick. However, she proved her critics wrong and used her celebrity status to emerge as a high-profile social activist.
Since 1989, she has been a member of the National Integration Council headed by the Prime Minister of India; a member of National AIDS Commission (of India); and was nominated (in 1997) as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. In 1998, the United Nations Population Fund appointed her as its Goodwill Ambassador for India.
Azmi has received the National Film Award for Best Actress five times, making her the overall most-awarded actor in the function.
International award
• 1993: Best Actress award for Libaas in North Korea
• 1994: Best Actress award for Gautam Ghose’s Patang at the Taorima Arte Festival in Italy
• 1996: Silver Hugo Award for Best Actress for Fire at the Chicago International Film Festival
• 1996: Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film, for Fire in L.A. Outfest