Evergreen Tabu turns 53 today!
Born as Tabassum Fatima Hashmi, on November 4, 1971, the versatile actress has ticked all the boxes like humongous box office successes, highest rated critically acclaimed outings to winning multiple national awards. As Tabu turns a year older, we dig up some interesting facts about her past.
In December 1987, producer Boney Kapoor announced two major films as ‘Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja’ and ‘Prem’. The leading pair of the first film was Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit while Tabu was signed opposite Boney Kapoor’s brother Sanjay Kapoor for ‘Prem’.
Since the initial days of shooting, Tabu had started dating Sanjay Kapoor. Both made public appearances and several photoshoots. It was Tabu’s first serious affair. The couple also received significance media attention.
The seemingly perfect couple started avoiding each other and even stopped talking. This eventually led to multiple delays, by the end of the shoot, both the actors completely stopped talking to each other.
(Credit - Insta/@sanjaykapoor)
Speaking about the short-lived affair, Sanjay later said in an interview: “I was dating Tabu at that time initially, but by the end of it, we were not talking to each other.”
It took nearly 8 years from announcement to release, one of the longest duration for a bollywood movie to finish. Both the actors played dual roles as the movie was dealing with the concept of reincarnation. After multiple delays, when the movie was ultimately released on May 5, 1995, it was rejected by audience. ‘Prem’ was the biggest flop in producer Boney Kapoor's career.
She shared how she was roped in for ‘Prem’: "Shekhar [Kapur] Uncle saw me, said I had to debut in [his film] Prem, which I said no to. He insisted that I do just this one film, and that he would then send me abroad for further studies. Which never happened. In fact, I did the film, and he ran away [from the project].”
Acclaimed director Satish Kaushik directed the movie. Meanwhile, legendary director Mani Ratnam turned down the offer of directing the movie.
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(Credit - X/@navpreetentious)
Tabu has always expressed her relationship status and idea of marriage. In an interview the actress said: “Your happiness comes from many things unconnected with the status of your relationship. On your own, you can deal with your aloneness, but with a wrong partner, what could follow would be worse than any kind of loneliness,” after being asked about relationships.
She also feels the “relationship” between a man and woman is a “complicated thing”. The national award winning actress mentioned: “When we are young, we have an idea of love. Then we grow, have new experiences, get independent, and outgrow some things. I was working and wanted to see the world on my own. If I'd have given it all up, it'd have been a disservice to me and my ability. An ideal relationship is when both individuals grow just by being in each other's lives. Relationships are meant to liberate, not stifle. I know my thinking is a bit different. For instance, I have never thought of men and women as different in a relationship. Does gender matter over the individual people you are?”
(Credit - Insta/@Tabu)
Tabu’s first screen appearance was in ‘Bazaar’, when she was only 10 years old. At the age of 14, she appeared in Dev Anand’s film ‘Hum Naujawan’. Tabu's first film as lead actress was Coolie No. 1, a Telugu movie released in 1991. She got her first biggest hit in the form of ‘Vijaypath’ (1994), also starring Ajay Devgn.
Tabu received two national awards for her excellent performance in Maachis (1996) and Chandni Bar (2001). She also received the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2011 for her contribution to Indian cinema.
Despite acting in Hindi films mostly, Tabu was also seen in English, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi and Bengali language movies. She will be next seen in HBO Original Series Dune: Prophecy.
