Tabu Height, Weight, Age, Boyfriend, Husband, Family, Biography & More

 

Some Lesser Known Facts About Tabu

• Tabu is a celebrated Indian actress who predominantly works in Hindi films, alongside other languages like Telugu, Tamil, and English. She is the recipient of two National Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards (including a record four Best Actress (Critics)), two Filmfare Awards South, and Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian honour. She is critically acclaimed for starring in the Hindi films Maachis (1996), Virasat (1997), Hu Tu Tu (1999), Chandni Bar (2001), Astitva (2000), and Haider (2014). Her commercial successes in Bollywood include the films Hum Saath-Saath Hain (1999), Hera Pheri (2000), and Andhadhun (2018) and the film series Drishyam.

• The actor’s parents divorced when she was three years old. She grew up in Hyderabad, where she was raised by her highly educated maternal family. Her mother was a school teacher, and her maternal grandparents were retired professors running a school. While talking about her happy childhood in an interview, she said,
  

  I had a great childhood, we lived in Hyderabad all our lives, I lived with my grandparents (mother’s parents), after my parents divorced. My mum was a teacher and so I ended up spending more time with her mother, and my grandmother would pray and read books, and I grew up with that.”

  

  Childhood picture of Tabu (sitting in her mother’s lap) with her mother and sister, Farah Naaz

• She spent her childhood listening to the radio; Binaca Geetmala and Chhaya Geet were her favourite programs on it. She was also fond of reading books like The Enchanted Garden by Iris Bromige and Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll in her leisure time. In an interview, she recalled her childhood and said,
  

  I was fond of the usual feminine frills and fancies, loved putting on talcum powder, had long hair and a favourite doll to play with…I did not have any desire to join films. I got into the movies by chance and timing, not out of a desire of wanting to be here.”

• At 11, she made her debut as a child artist with the Hindi drama film Bazaar (1982) in which she has an uncredited role in the song Chale Aao Saiyan.

• In 1983, she moved to Mumbai.

• At 14, she featured in the Hindi film Hum Naujawan (1985)  in which she played Priya, the daughter of Professor Hans Raj (played by Dev Anand)

• Although she was first cast in producer Boney Kapoor’s romantic Hindi film Prem, she made her Bollywood debut with Pehla Pehla Pyar (1994) as Prem took eight years in making, from 1987 to 1995. Although Prem was a big flop, Tabu’s career took off.

• While shooting for Prem, Tabu fell in love with Sanjay Kapoor. However, the affair ended with the film’s shoot. In an interview, Sanjay talked about his affair with Tabu and said,
  

  I was dating Tabu at that time initially, but by the end of it, we were not talking to each other.”

• In 1994, she made her name in Bollywood with Vijaypath in which she played Mohini/ Vrushali, opposite Ajay Devgn. The film earned her a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.
  

• In 1996, she appeared in the hit Tollywood film Ninne Pelladata (1996) as Mahalakshmi “Pandu,” opposite Akkineni Nagarjuna. The film went on to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu that year. Then, Nagarjuna and Tabu were featured together in the popular Telugu film Aavida Maa Aavide (1998). Tabu played the role of S. I. Archana in the film. Other hit Telugu films under her belt include Chennakesava Reddy (2002), Andarivaadu (2005), and Pandurangadu (2008).
  
  For a long time, Tabu was rumoured to be dating Akkineni Nagarjuna, a married man. Reportedly, the two dated for 10 years. However, the relationship came to an end when Tabu realised that Nagarjuna would not part from his wife.

• In 1996, she earned critical acclaim for the Hindi film Maachis in which she played Virender Kaur a.k.a. Veeran, a Punjabi woman caught in the rise of Sikh insurgency.
  

• In the same year, she played the role of Parvathi / Parvathikutty in the epic historical Malayalam film Kaalapani. In the film, Parvathi is Dr Govardhan’s lover who later becomes his wife. Set in 1915, the film narrates events in the lives of Indian independence activists imprisoned in the Cellular Jail (also known as Kālā Pānī) during the British Raj. Tabu gained massive popularity all across South India with her role in Kaalapani.
  

• While working on the film Jeet (1996), Tabu started dating its producer Sajid Nadiadwala. Apparently, Tabu was friends with Sajid and his wife, Divya Bharti (deceased). Sajid was coping with the loss of his wife, Divya Bharti, when the two started dating. Sajid’s reluctance to commit pushed Tabu way.

• She starred in two successful multi-starter Hindi films in 1999, Biwi No.1 and Hum Saath-Saath Hain. While Biwi No.1 turned out to become the highest-grossing film, Hum Saath-Saath Hain became the second-highest-grossing film of that year.
  

• She starred in the Marathi-Hindi bilingual film Astitva (2000) as Aditi Pandit.

• In 2001, she bagged her second National Film Award for Best Actress with the Hindi film Chandni Bar 2001 in which she played Mumtaz Sawant (née Ali Ansari). In the film, Mumtaz is a displaced woman who is forced to become a beer-bar dancer and sire children of a gangster.
  
• In 2012, she played the role of Gita Patel in the adventure-drama film Life of Pi, which won Oscars in various categories.

• In 2014, she starred in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Hindi film Haider in which she played the role of Ghazala Meer, the mother of Haider (played by Shahid Kapoor). The film is an adaptation film of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Tabu as Ghazala Meer in Haider (2014). Her extraordinary performance in the film was acclaimed to such an extent that The New York Times said that the film should have been titled Ghazala (after Tabu’s character in the film), instead of Haider. ^[8]The New York Times
  

• In 2018, she was immensely appreciated for her negative role of Simi Sinha in the black comedy crime thriller Andhadhun. In the film, Simi Sinha cold-bloodedly murders her husband. The murder changes the life of a pianist posing to be blind, who struggles to report the crime.
  

• Other hit Hindi films in which she appeared include Virasaat (1997), Chachi 420 (1997), Hera Pheri (2000), Maqbool (2003), Fanaa (2006), Cheeni Kum (2007), Drishyam (2014), and Fitoor (2016).

• She is well-versed in Telugu, Urdu, Hindi, and English.