Tabu

Tabu—real name Tabassum Hashmi—was born in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, on November 4, 1972. Younger sister of yesteryear actress Farha, Tabu was discovered by Dev Anand, who gave her a role in ‘Hum Naujawan’ when she was 10. The legendary Dev had predicted that Tabu would leave an indelible mark with her acting in the years to come.

Tabu has a persona that differs from those of typical Bollywood heroines. With loads of talent, over the years, Tabu, for sure, has carved a niche for herself as an actress.

After ‘Hum Naujawan’, in her youth Tabu was chosen by Satish Kaushik and Boney Kapoor to play the lead role opposite latter’s brother Sanjay Kapoor in ‘Prem’. Though the movie failed miserably at the box office, Tabu did not give up. She struggled with movies like ‘Vijaypath’, where she had to play roles which were not her cup of tea.

It was Gulzar’s Maachis that ignited Tabbu’s film career and earned her acclaim for her intense role that of a lover of a militant (Chandrachur Singh). She went on to win the National Award for her performance in the movie and since then there was no looking back for her.

Right from Priyadarsan to Gulzar to Mahesh Manjrekar and David Dhawan, Tabu has worked with all the top directors of the country. Astitva, Chandni Bar, Meenaxi: A Tale of Two cities or Maqbool have been some of the movies having Tabu’s most memorable performances.
After Maachis, Chandni Bar earned Tabu the National Film Award for Best Actress for the second time in 2002 . She has also won three statuettes in the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance category for Virasat (1997), Hu Tu Tu (1999), and Astitva (2000) respectively.
She had also done a commendable job in a south Indian hit—Kandukondain. In 2006, she starred for a small duration alongside Kajol and Aamir Khan in Kunal Kohli's, Fanaa, playing the role of a ‘tough cop’ fighting militants.