This actress made a hattrick and won the National Film Award for Best Actress thrice in three consecutive years, a record which hasn't been broken yet.
National Film Award is the most respectable honour an actor can receive in their career. The National Film Award for Best Actress was first presented during the fifteenth edition in 1967 to Nargis Dutt for the psychological film Raat Aur Din which marked the final on-screen appearance of the late actress.
As of today, 56 National Film Awards for Best Actress have been given to 45 different actresses across multiple languages in the Indian film industry. And you will be surprised to know that one actress has won it the maximum number of five times, which is even greater than Amitabh Bachchan winning the male counterpart four times, the maximum number in that category.
That actress is none other than Shabana Azmi, who has given intense and powerful performances in her entire career. She won the honour for her debut film itself, Shyam Benegal's Ankur released in 1974. The veteran actress then did something, which no other actress has done till yet, making a hattrick of winning the award thrice in three consecutive years.
Shabana won the National Film Award for Best Actress for Mahesh Bhatt's Arth (1982), Mrinal Sen's Kandhar (1983), and Goutam Ghose's Paar (1984). Her last film, for which she received the honour, was Vinay Shukla's Godmother, which was released theatrically in 1999 after winning a total of seven National Awards in 1998.
Talking about other major winners, Kangana Ranaut has won the same honour thrice tied with Sharada. Tabu, Smita Patil, Shobana, and Archana have been awarded the honour twice in their careers. Vidya Balan has only won one National Film Award for Best Actress, and Sridevi has been the only actress to receive this award posthumously.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Shabana Azmi will be seen next in Karan Johar's romantic comedy Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani in which she plays the grandmother of Alia Bhatt's titular character Rani. Ranveer Singh is playing Rocky and his grandparents are played by Dharmendra and Jaya Bachchan. The film releases in cinemas on July 28.
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