| Name |
Shabana
Azmi |
| Profession |
Actress,
Social activist |
| Date
of Birth |
September 18, 1950 |
| Place
of Birth |
Hyderabad
(Andhra Pradesh) |
| Religion |
Muslim |
| Education |
St.Xavier's College, Mumbai - Degree in
Psychology
Acting Course in the Film and Television Institute of
India
|
| Family |
Father: Kaifi Azmi
Mother: Shaukat Kaifi
Brother: Baba Azmi
Husband: Javed Aktar
|
| Marriage
date |
December 9, 1984 |
| Rajya
Sabha MP |
from
1997 - 2003
|
| International
films |
* John Schlesinger's 'Madame Sousatzka' along with Shirley Mc'laine
* Nicholas Klotz's 'The Bengali Night' along with John Hurt and Hugh Grant
* Roland Joffe's 'City of Joy' with Patrick Swayze
* 'Immaculate Conception' with James Wilby
* 'The Son of Pink Panther' by Blake Edward
* Ismail Merchant's 'In Custody'
|
| Satyajit
Ray |
"Shabana
Azmi in her very first film, "Ankur",
firmly establishes herself as the finest dramatic
actress of the country."
|
| First
film |
Booked:
'Faasla'
Shot: 'Parinay'
Released: 'Ankur' |
| Small
screen debut |
Anupama
|
| Notable
stage plays |
* M.
S. Sathyu’s Safed Kundali
* Farouque Shaikh’s Tumhari Amrita
* Ingram Bergman’s adoption named Ibsen’s Doll
House
* Waiting Room
produced by National Theatre London
|
| Controversial
films |
*
Fire
* Water
|
| Her
definition of an actor |
"A good actor should be able
to prefix the words, "If I were…" to any one of a range of
characters (a prostitute, Mother Teresa, Queen Elizabeth) and be able to play
each equally well"
|
| Admires |
Vanessa Redgrave, Aparna Sen
|
| Doctorates |
* Doctorate
by the University of Leeds
* Doctorate from the Jadhavpur University
|
| Good
will Ambassador |
She has been appointed the
United
Nations Goodwill Ambassador on
Population And Development.
|
| Her
valuable award |
Gandhi
International Peace Prize for her work in Mumbai
slums
|
| About
Veil (Purdah) |
"The Quran speaks about women wearing clothes
to cover her modesty. A woman is supposed to cover
herself to be modest. She does not need to cover
her face. A time has come for a debate on the
issue"
|
| About
Triple talaq |
"I have on record spoken out against triple talaq being
unIslamic and leading to the oppression of Muslim women"
|
| Range
of roles |
Battered wife, Jilted wife,
Lesbian, Godmother, Vamp, madam of a whorehouse, typical urban Indian wife, conniving
second wife, prostitute
|
| Fatwa |
Earned
the wrath of the mullahs in Hyderabad because she tonsured her head for her
role in the controversial film, Water.
|
| Cross
border cinema |
She feels
India-Pakistan co-production will be beneficial to both the countries
|
| On
Censorship |
"We should
accept the American system where filmmakers self regulate by either making
voluntary cuts or insist on no cuts but ask for a XX rating or whatever and
accept that it is meant for a restricted audience"
|
| To
win an Oscar |
"Indian films have to cut
down the length first and foremost"
|
| Imam
Bukhari |
"When he said all Indian
Muslims should join the jihad in Afghanistan and I said to him on live TV that
I would arrange for him to be dropped to Kandahar, his problem will be solved
and so will ours" - For this statement she received a lot of emails from
Muslims for standing up to him.
|
| Hobbies |
Reading and music
|
| Important
Post |
Was
the Chairperson of Children's Film Society,
1992-94 |
| Konkana
Sen |
According to her promising actress of the future.
|
| Awards |
2007 - Honorary Doctorate by the Leeds Metropolitan University in
Yorkshire
2006 - Gandhi International Peace Prize; Crystal Award at the Annual
Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland
2005 - Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award
2002 - Michigan University conferred (in 2002) on her the Martin Luther
King Professorship award
1999 - National Film Award for Best Actress, Godmother
1998 - Padma Shri from the Government of India
1997 - nominated (in 1997) as a member of the Rajya Sabha
1994 - Rajiv Gandhi Award
1985 - National Film Award for Best Actress, Paar
1984 - National Film Award for Best Actress, Kandhar; Filmfare Best
Actress Award, Bhavna
1983 - National Film Award for Best Actress; Filmfare Best Actress
Award for
the film Arth
1977 - Filmfare Best Actress Award, Swami
1975 - National Film Award for Best Actress, Ankur
|
| Facts |
* She topped her class when she passed out
Film and Television Institute of India (FTII),
Pune in 1972
*
In 1989, along with Swami Agnivesh and Asghar
Ali Engineer, she undertook a four day march for
communal harmony from New Delhi to Meerut.
* She has addressed several universities in U.S.A.
- such as Columbia, Berkeley, UC Irvine, MIT
Boston, Wellesley Boston, Ann Arbour, Brynmore,
University of Chicago, University of London, on
the need to relate communal harmony to issues of
social justice.
* Was chosen by TIME Magazine as 1 of 25 Asian
heroes and the only woman amongst 4 Indians who
has made a difference.
* She has been awarded D.Litt. by the Rabindra
Bharati University in Kolkatta.
* Post-Sept. 11, Azmi was among the first in
the country to publicly criticize militant Islam
* Played the
the part of Khanam in Umrao Jaan - the part played
by her mother Shaukat Kaifi in the
earlier version.
* Shabana's father, Kaifi Azmi, was the
founder member of the Progressive Writers'
Association, and mother Shaukat was an actress
with IPTA and Prithvi theatre.
* She is on the Advisory Council of the Endowment
campaign for Chair in Indian Studies, Columbia
University.
* Raised funds for
displaced Kashmiri migrants and the victims of
Latur earthquake with the extensive tour of her
play "Tumhari Amrita"
* Was one of sixteen women to whom tributes were
paid in July 1989 by President Mitterand of
France on the bicentenary celebrations of
International Human Rights
* Chairperson of the Jury Montreal and Cairo International Film Festivals.
* Is interested in writing a book but sometime
in the future.
|
| Regrets |
Not
learning to cook and play the piano
|
| Address |
No.
702, Sagar Samrat,
Green Field, PO Juhu,
Mumbai. 400049
Tel. - {022} 26200066
|
| Email
address |
shabana@sansad.nic.in/shabana@vsnl.com
|
| Quote |
"I am a daughter, a wife, a mother, a woman,
an actress, an Indian and a Muslim"
|
