Tabu

Tabu was born on November 4, 1973, in Hyderabad as Tabassum Fatima Hashmi. She is an acclaimed Indian actress who has worked in Bollywood as well as Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali and Hollywood films. Tabu has received the prestigious award of the Government of India, the Padma Shri. The government has also honoured her with the National Film Award for Best Actress, twice. Tabu is the recipient of six Filmfare Awards, including four Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress.

Starting her leading role career with an impressive debut in Vijaypath (1994) alongside friend Ajay Devgn (credited as Ajay Devgan in the film), Tabu went on to do many commercial films in Hindi and south Indian cinema. But she excelled the most in author-backed roles like Maachis, Viraasat, Astitva, Chandni Bar, Cheeni Kum, Kaala Pani, Maqbool, Hu Tu Tu, Kandukondain Kandukondain, and more recently, The Namesake, Life of Pi, Haider, Fitoor and Drishyam. She is an effortless actress.

Tabu's parents divorced soon after she was born. Her mother as well as her maternal grandparents are teachers and professors, and ran a school. Tabu is the younger sister of Bollywood actress Farah. She is also related to veteran actress Shabana Azmi.

Tabu was said to be dating actor Nagarjuna for a few years, but she is single right now. In an interview to Meena Iyer in Mumbai Mirror, Tabu said in jest that actor Ajay Devgn is the reason she is still single. What she meant was that as her cousin Sameer Arya's childhood friend, Ajay and Sameer spied on her and did not let her meet boys, and hence she is still single. Trust Tabu to find humour in the rarest of places!

By Shweta Parande