In a pioneering hit among art cinema, Ankur, 51 years ago, a young girl made her debut as a poor Hyderabadi girl wanting to become a mother. That girl, Shabana Azmi, was the daughter of one of our legendary lyricists, Kaifi Azmi. An actress of legendary stature now, on September 18, 2025, she turns 75.
Soon, she became the czarina of arthouse film actresses. But she was not content with mere acclaim and meaty roles.
She tried out commercial films as well, beginning with a tiny role in Dev Anand’s Ishq Ishq Ishq, followed by Mahesh Bhatt’s Vishwasghaat and her maiden mainstream hit, Fakira (1976).
Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar. PHOTO: Publicity Photos
Here are 12 lesser-known facts about this actress.
Her first signed films (after doing stage in college) were Khwaja Ahmed Abbas’ Faasla and Kantilal Rathod’s Parinay, but Ankur was her first release and completed 25 weeks in theatres.
Shabana was engaged to actor Benjamin Gilani in the 1970s but it was called off. Her affair with actor-director Shekhar Kapur (her co-star in Toote Khilone and Jeena Yahan and her director in Masoom) lasted for over six years before her marriage to Javed Akhtar in 1984.
Her work in Hindi cinema encompasses almost all top co-stars and many heroines, but her most frequent co-stars have been Shashi Kapoor, Vinod Khanna and Naseeruddin Shah. Four films with Smita Patil are her highest female score.
Her directors span from Shyam Benegal and Satyajit Ray to Manmohan Desai, Karan Johar and B.R. Chopra.
She has done international films like Madame Souzatzka, City of Joy, Side Streets and others.
She is that rare actress who won the National award for her maiden performance in Ankur, following it up with four more in Arth, Khandhar, Paar and Godmother. However, Khandhar, Fire, Arth and 15 Park Avenue are her own favorite performances from the 100-plus films she has done. Among mainstream cinema she enjoyed doing Manmohan Desai’s Parvarish in which the director told her “not to act in the way she did in ‘tumhari art films’!
Her films with husband Javed as lyricist include Bada Din,Godmother and Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. He also scripted her Main Azaad Hoon.
She has also sung songs in Mandi, Anjuman, Paar, Loins of Punjab Presents and her play Idgah. But she considers her work in Morning Raga the most challenging.
She has been conferred the Padma Shri and later Padma Bhushan and has been honored multiple times nationally and globally.
She has been active in several social causes and movements, including against HIV, and has also taken up political causes.
Azmi also debuted as a strong-willed woman in the TV series, Anupamaa. She has participated in many stage plays: notable among them are M. S. Sathyu’s Safed Kundali and Feroz Abbas Khan’s Tumhari Amrita, the Ingmar Bergman’s adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and the British production, Happy Birthday Sunita.
Actresses Farah and Tabu are her nieces, while her brother, Baba Azmi, a cinematographer, is married to actress Tanvi Azmi.
Rajiv Vijayakar is the Entertainment Editor at South Asian Herald. He has been a journalist and critic for over 25 years and was part of the National Film Awards Jury in India in 2011 and 2015. He has authored four books, the latest of which, “Music by Laxmikant Pyarelal,” won the National Award for Best Book on Cinema in 2021. He also was on the 2025 jury for choosing the Indian entry for the Oscars.
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