Tanvi Azmi

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Tanvi wanted to become a doctor but her mother insisted her to become an actress Tanvi is the daughter of famous Bollywood film actress Usha Kiron, who ruled Indian cinema in the 50’s and 60’s. Her hit films include in Patita (1953), Aulad (1954), Musafir (1957), Shikleli Bayko (1959) etc. But when she gave birth to Tanvi, she had quit acting. Like any other mother she groomed Tanvi. Since Tanvi’s father was a doctor, she had an inclination towards becoming a doctor but her mother persuaded her to take up acting as a career reasoning she could gain stardom at a young age.

Tanvi Azmi and Baba Azmi had love marriage Tanvi Azmi fell in love with Baba Azmi on the sets of her first film Pyari Behna. Baba Azmi, is brother of Shabana Azmi and is very competent cinematographer in Bollywood. He has done many hit films like Arjun, Beta, Dil, Tezaab, Mr. India, Akele Hum Akele Tum, Pukar etc. Though both were of different cast, yet Tanvi Azmi and Baba Azmi did not had any problem in marriage as both their parents were broadminded and believed in the religion of humanity.

Like her mother, Tanvi too focused on women centric roles Walking on the path of her mother Usha Kiron, who played women centric roles, Tanvi too made her debut in Bollywood with powerful women oriented roles. Her debut film Pyari Behna (1985) was directed by popular South filmmaker Babu. Though Padmini Kolhapure was the heroine of the film but the film was centric on Tanvi, who played Seeta, the loving sister of Mithun Chakraborty. The film was hit. Tanvi was even nominated by Filmfare in Best Supporting actress category. Tanvi was flooded with similar offers but she refused all the films as she did not wanted to be stereotyped as sister all her life. Tanvi proved her mettle as actress in the film Rao Saheb After the success of Pyari Behna (1985) a Bollywood commercial film, Tanvi signed legendary filmmaker Vijaya Mehta’s art film Rao Saheb (1985). In this film Tanvi, played a young bride who becomes a widow with such perfection that she left the world film critics gasping! In an interview when she was asked how she portrayed the complicated role with such panache she gave credit to her mother who asked her just to follow her director Vijaya Mehta. Tanvi blindly followed Vijaya Mehta’s instructions and came out with flying colors. Tanvi not only won rave reviews in India but she also won International acclaim. Tanvi took to TV to satisfy her creative urge Annoyed by Bollywood for not having any productive roles, Tanvi switched to TV and did the historical TV serial Mirza Ghalib (1988 TV series) with Naseeruddin Shah playing the lead role. The serial was directed by Gulzar hence Tanvi decided to do TV as she was getting an golden opportunity to work with nation’s two best talent Gulzar and Naseeruddin Shah. Tanvi played Umrao Begum, the wife of Galib. It was an extensive role that gave platform to Tanvi to display her talent as the role stretched from young Umrao Begum to an aged lady. The serial was huge hit and Tanvi enjoyed the success. She also had the opportunity to work with Vijiya Mehta again in the TV Lifeline (1991). In this serial she played Dr Talat Hamdani. She is proud that even today she is recognized by her character of Dr Talat Hamdani in the serial Lifeline. Her other TV serial include Lohit Kinare (1988); Kahkashan (1991), Family No.1 (1999), Sinndoor Tere Naam Ka (2005–07) etc. Tanvi has been very selective about her roles Tanvi never bid adieu to Bollywood because when she did not find any suitable roles in Bollywood she switched to TV from 1988 to 1991. In 1993, Tanvi stunned Bollywood by crossing over to South films when she did Vidheyan (Malayalam) opposite South superstar Mammootty. Few are aware that Tanvi did the film purely because the film was directed by Indian cinema’s one of the greatest filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, a filmmaker who gave international credibility to Indian cinema. In the 90’s Tanvi once again turned to Bollywood but has been strictly choosy about her roles. Like she did few movies with great filmmakers like Yash Chopra (Darr), Aamir Khan;s (Akele Hum Akele Tum and Mela), Mahesh Bhatt’s (Dushman), Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra ( Aks and Delhi 6), Ranbir Kapoor’s (Anjaana Anjaani), Prakash Jha ( Aarakshan), Nagesh Kukunoor (Mod) , Aditya Chopra (Aurangzeb), Karan Johar (Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani) etc. Besides Tanvi has also done an English film English, August with sensitive actor Rahul Bose and a Marathi film Lai Bhari, in which she had a powerful mother’s role.