Shabana Azmi happens to be one of the leading actresses of the world of Indian Parallel Cinema. She is a film actress as well as a social activist, and her performances in films in a variety of genres have generally earned her praises and awards. In her personal life she is married to the noted Indian storywriter Javed Akhtar. She was born to Kaifi Azmi, the well known Indian poet and writer of Urdu, and Shaukat Azmi, a well known stage actress. From her childhood being brought up in an environment always throbbing with people and activities and social and human values, it was quite natural for her to pursue the path of arts and entertainment. She had her graduation from the St. Xavier's College, in Mumbai, in Psychology. This was followed by her course in Acting at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTTI), Pune where she topped the list of successful candidates of 1972.
Her first movie to be released was Shyam Benegal's Ankur in 1972, which won the National Award. However, her first film was an art film, made by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Faalsa, which was released in 1974. Her roles in both the films attracted positive comments both from the reviewers and the audiences. She received the national awards consecutively for three years from 1983 to 1985 for her roles in movies, Arth, Khandhar and Paar. Another film named Godmother (1999) brought her another national award taking her tally to five national awards. Apart from this, she also did many roles in experimental and parallel Indian cinema. Deepa Mehta's 1996 film Fire portrayed her as a lonely woman, Radha, in love with her sister-in-law. Radha being the name of a goddess and the subtle reference to lesbianism drew severe protests from many social groups of India, and also threats of ban by Indian authorities. Her role as Radha brought her international recognition with the Silver Hugo Award for Best Actress at the 32nd Chicago Film Festival and Jury Award for Best Actress at Outfest, Los Angeles.
Besides she is also a very well known and committed social activist, active in fighting AIDS and injustice in real life.
