 Actress and star, Shabana Azmi is synonymous with riveting performances that lift the film right off celluloid, as real as life. Her finest roles have been in the genre known as New Indian Cinema (or Arthouse Cinema). Not surprising, considering her parentage : her father, Kaifi Azmi, a highly respected poet and film lyricist, and her mother, Shaukat Azmi, a noted stage actress.
While her first film was the commercial one, Faasla, it was released after the Shyam Benegal film Ankur (1973). Thus, the arthouse film is regarded as her debut - the film, performances, and in particular Azmi, were inordinately appreciated. Nishant (1975), Junoon (1978), Mandi (1983), Susman (1986), and Antarnaad (1992) are all Benegal films that have time and again proven her range and power.
Other directors who have drawn out her talent are:
Satyajit Ray in Shatranj Ke Khiladi
Mrinal Sen in Khandar, Genesis, Ek Din Achanak
Saeed Mirza in Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai
Sai Paranjpye in Sparsh and Disha
Gautam Ghose in Paar
Aparna Sen in Picnic and Sati
Mahesh Bhatt in Arth
John Schlesinger in Madame Sousatzka (1988)
Roland Joffe in City of Joy (1992).
 Azmi`s mainstream films have been popular - Amar Akbar Anthony, Parvarish, to name just two - but have paled before her New Indian Cinema repertoire.She has also staged plays like Safed Kundali (1980) - M.S. Sathyu`s version of The Caucasian Chalk Circle - and the dinner theatre playTumhari Amrita (with Farouque Shaikh) have seen her expand her world beyond cinema. Likewise, renowned is her activism on behalf of Bombay slum dwellers.
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