Shabana Azmi

Five times national award winner for best actress, Shabana Azmi has worked in a wide range of films. She proved her mettle as an actor in the films of masters such as Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal and Aparna Sen portraying strong woman characters on the screen.

She is the Gold Medalist for Best Student in Acting from Film & TV Institute of India (Pune).

She has also won Fimfare award for Best Actress on three occasions for ‘Swami' (1979), ‘Bhavna' (1989), ‘Arth' (1983). She was conferred with Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 by Filmfare and in 2007 by IIFA. She is the only actress to have won national award for best actress for three consecutive years.

She has also won awards at North Korea International Film Festival, Toronto Reel World International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival and at the Los Angeles Outfest.

She also won international acclaim for her performances in John Schlesinger's ‘Madame Sousatzka' and Roland Joffe's ‘City of Joy'.

She is the recipient of many awards and honours such as President's Memorial Award for National Integration (2007), Doctorate from Leeds Metropolitan University (2007), International Gandhi Peace prize (2006) at the House of Commons in London by Gandhi Foundation and Padma Shri, India's forth highest civilian honour in 1988.

She is the only Asian actor to have a retrospective of her films at the New York Film Festival 2002. Retrospective of her films were held at American Film Institute, Smithsonian Institution (Washington), George Pompidou Centre (Paris) and Pacific Cinematheque.

She was Chairperson of the International Jury at Montreal, Cairo and Osian's Cinefan Festivals (New Delhi). She was an International jury member at Tehran, New Delhi and Mannheim Film Festivals.