Shabana Azmi is the former member of Parliament and also the congress party. She is a social and women's rights activist. She is also the Goodwill Ambassador of United Nations Population Fund Association UNPFA which spreads contraception among India to control it's growing population. She also supports to fight against AIDS. Shabana runs a NGO Mijwan Welfare Society for a small village Mijwan in Uttar Pradesh and every year she has celebrities to walk the ramp to support the cause. The NGO was initially started by her father Kaifi Azmi in 1993. She also supports being a social activists active in Child survival. She has voiced her opinion to various social issues . She used her celebrity image to emerge as one of the high profile activists working for a cause. Shabana Azmi debuted on the small screen in a soap opera titled ‘ Anupama’. In this television serial she portrays herself as the modern Indian woman who while endorsing traditional Indian values, negotiates freedom for herself. She has also participated in many stage plays and her most popular being M.S. Sathy’s, “Safed Kundali” in 1980. Based on The Caucasian Chalk Circle . Shabana Azmi has participated in several plays and disapproving communalism . 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 been a part of the social group advocating slum dweller’s cause as well as on Kashmiri Pandits migrants and to the victims of Latur earthquake . She is a prominent speaker and has talked extensively about the social act vigourously to creat an emerging market project in her interview for Harvard Business School . Shabana Azmi sine 1989 is a member of the National Integration Council headed by the Prime Minister of India, and is a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament . In 1998, the United Nations Population fund appointed Shabana Azmi as its Goodwill Ambassador for India.
Shabana Kaifi Azmi was born on 18th September 1950 to Kaifi Azmi and Shaukat Azmi in Hyderabad. Her father was a poet and mother a former stage actress. Her brother Baba Azmi was a cinematographer in Bollywood. Her parents had an active social life and there would always be people of communist party thriving at their home. She did her schooling Queen Mary girls’ school,Mumbai. She completed her degree in psychology from St. Xaviers College. She then did an acting course from Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. Shabana Azmii graduated from the institute in 1973. Her early childhood talks about the environment in her home that was inculcated with respect for family ties , social and human values. Her parents were broadminded who raised Shabana Azmi to develop a passion for intellectual growth and were supportive of her values and ideas of her genre. Shabana Azmi did her schooling at the Premier Girl’s School Queen Mary School Mumbai . She had completed her graduation in Psychology from St.Xavier’s College.
Shabana Azmi did a course in acting at the Film and Television Institute of Pune (FTII). She admits she was watching Jaya Bhaduri in a film Suman for the Diploma and she was mermerized by her performance and had decided to join the same institution as Jaya Bhaduri . Shabana Azmi topped the list of successful candidates in the year 1972 the year that she passed out from the Institute to pursue a career in the films that gave her an edge over others. Shabana Azmi got married to Javed Akhtar, lyricist and screenwriter on 9th December 1984. Her father had objected her marriage as it was Javed’s second marriage and he already had two kids with his first wife Honey Irani. She is the step mother of Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar.Se does not has any own child after marriage with Javed Akhtar. Farah, Naaz and Tabu are her nieces where as Tanvi Azmi is her sister in law.(married to her brother).
Shabana Azmi was at her peak of her career in films Some of her notable films that Shabana Azmi acted in were Ankur, Nishaant, Junoon, Susman, Shatranj ke khiladi, Khandaar, Arth, Paar, Amar Akbar Anthony, Jwalamukhi and Parvarish. She also appeared in a few Hollywood films. She also appeared on the small screen in a soap opera titled Anupama in which she played role of a woman who along with her traditions and ethics negotiated freedom. She has also done various stage theatre works with Farooq Sheikh. Shabana mainly did real life depicting roles. Deepa Mehta’s movie Fire depicted Azmi as a lonely woman Radha who loves her sister in law. This was the first movie to show on screen lesbianism in Indian Film Industry. Shabana Azmi was seen in a negative role in Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola with Anushka Sharma, Imran Khan and Pankaj Kapoor. She played the role of Neerja’s mother in the real life biopic of the airhostess Neerja Bhanot who died while saving the lives of the people during a plane hijack where Neerja was potrayed by actress Sonam Kapoor. The movie was a big success. Shabana Azmi loved her role as the mother as she states that the bond showed in the movie between her and Sonam Kapoor is every mother daughter bond and love. Shabana has appeared in over 120 Hindi and Bengali films in both the mainstream as well as the art films and the independent cinema sine 1988 . She has also been part of International films and projects. Many of her films have been cited as the form of progress to portray Indian Society , its customs and traditions.
| # | Released Date | Type | Credited As | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 Aug 2023 | Film | Supporting Actress | Ghoomer |
| 2 | 28 Jul 2023 | Film | Supporting Actress | Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani |
| 3 | 01 Jan 2018 | Film | Actress | 5 Rupees |
| 4 | 21 Jul 2017 | Film | Supporting Actress | The Black Prince |
| 5 | 09 Jun 2017 | Film | Actress | The Wishing Tree |
| 6 | 19 Feb 2016 | Film | Supporting Actress | Neerja |
| 7 | 15 Jan 2016 | Film | Actress Singer | Chalk N Duster |
| 8 | 09 Oct 2015 | Film | Supporting Actress | Jazbaa |
| 9 | 07 Nov 2014 | Film | Actress | A Decent Arrangement |
| 10 | 01 Feb 2013 | Film | Actress | Midnight's Children |
