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.
Dia was born in December 9,
1981 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. Her dad's name was Frank
Handrich, a German National, and an Interior Designer by profession, and
her mom, Deepa, is Bengali-speaking. Deepa and Frank separated when Dia
was 6, and Frank passed away three years later. Deepa then married
Ahmed Mirza. The family lived in Khairatabad near Hyderabad and she
completed her schooling in Vidyaranya High School and in Nasr School.
Her step-father passed away during 2004.She was introverted and
unhappy as a child, and it was her parents, especially her mom, who
instilled self-confidence and assisted her to break free from the
barriers of low self-esteem.At the age of 16, after completing
her 10th standard, she got a job with Sriven Multi-Tech in Hyderabad.
This job paved her way to modeling assignments with Lipton, Emami
amongst others. With this exposure she was encouraged to participate in
the 2000 Femina Miss India Beauty Pageant, which she did, came up the
second runner-up and won three titles namely Femina Miss India-Pacific,
Sony Viewer's Choice Award, and Miss Beautiful Smile. She went on to be
crowned Miss Asia-Pacific on December 2, 2000 at Manila, making her the
second Indian to win this award after a gap of 29 years.Dia
wanted to complete her graduation in Arts by correspondence, but decided
to postpone it as it was becoming difficult to juggle between the Miss
Asia Pacific Competition, modeling assignments, traveling and training.
She was assisted by Sabira Merchant on diction and etiquette; diet with
Anjali Mukherjee; gymnasium and physical fitness with Talwalkars;
clothes from Ritu Kumar and Hemant Trivedi; skin care with Dr. Jamuna
Pai; and make-up and hair-care from Bharat and Doris Godambe.Dia
made her debut on the tinsel screen with 'Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein'
during 2001, and thus was able to launch her career as an actress.
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