Shabana Azmi`s cinematic choices are a reflection of her ideologies and matters close to her heart. She, for decades, represented the Indian Parallel Cinema Movement of the 1970s and 1980s. An Indian film and theater actress, Shabana Azmi has worked with celebrated art-house filmmakers like Satyajit Ray, Bimal Roy, Shyam Benegal, and Aparna Sen. Through her films, the actress has attempted to bring to light many societal issues like women exploitation, problems of minorities and communalism. In a career spanning 40 years, Azmi has appeared in some path-breaking films. such as Ankur (1974), Nishant (1975), Sparsh (1980), Arth (1982), and Godmother (1999). For her contribution to the field of performing arts, the multiple National Film Award recipient was honored with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, in 1988, and with Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award, in 2012. Starting her career with neo-realistic cinema, Shabana Azmi made her big-screen debut with Shyam Benegal`s first film Ankur, which along with her also starred Anant Nag in the lead. Based on a true story in Hyderabad, the movie went on to receive colossal critical acclaim, with Shabana Azmi taking home the National Film Award for Best Actress. She then appeared in a mix of commercial and parallel movies such as Ishq Ishq Ishq (1974), Nishant (1975), Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), Kissa Kursi Ka (1977), and Swami (1977) for which she received her maiden Filmfare Award for Best Actress Award. A Hindi drama film Swami was directed by Basu Chatterjee and co-starred Girish Karnad, and Utpal Dutt in important roles. From 1983 to 1985, Azmi`s career saw new heights, as she starred in films, which are to date considered some of her best works. She was also honored with three consecutive National Film Awards in three years. First one for Mahesh Bhatt`s semi-autobiographical film Arth; the second Mrinal Sen`s drama film Khandhar and Goutam Ghose`s Paar. For Arth, which along with her also starred for Mrinal Sen`s contemporary Smita Patil and Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Azmi won her second Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She soon came to be recognized as a character artist, who only depicted real characters. All her films had a strong social message, which often reflected the evils of society. In 1989, the actress starred in the Bengali film, Sati. Directed by Aparna Sen, the movie chronicled the life of a mute girl, who because of a fault in her horoscope is made to marry a tree. Along with her, the movie had Arun Banerjee playing the lead role. This was regarded as a very important film, making Aparna Sen one of the first directors to boldly speak about women`s problems and gender issues. Be it the portrayal of Rukmani Bai in Mandi (1983), or Kavita in Sparsh (1980), her roles and the choices of films highlighted the exploitation a woman in Indian society back then went through. Shabana Azmi never gave up on trying to bring about her change via the medium of art. After continuing to do great work in Hindi cinema in the late 80s, Azmi made her international movie debut with the French-British drama film City of Joy (1992), which along with her also featured Patrick Swayze and Om Puri in the lead. In 1996, she forayed into the genre of experimental cinema, when she essayed Radha in Mira Nair`s "controversial" drama film Fire, which was also the first installment of Mehta`s Elements trilogy; it is succeeded by Earth (1998) and Water (2005). Fire, loosely based on Ismat Chughtai`s 1942 story, Lihaaf, also stars Nandita Das in the lead and openly explores homosexual relations, because of which the movie landed in a lot of trouble in India. Her 1999 release Godmother gave Shabana Azmi her fifth National Film Award for Best Actress. A biographical drama, Godmother follows the story of Santokben Jadeja, a mafia-turned-politician, who was the mastermind behind many operations in the late 1980s. Directed by Vinay Shukla and starring Shabana Azmi in the titular role, the movie also bagged National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and the Filmfare Award for Best Story. In the 2000s, Azmi became extremely selective of her work and some of her most notable films in that decade include Makdee (2002), 15 Park Avenue (2005), and Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007). She also appeared in quite a few international productions like Gurinder Chadha`s British comedy It`s a Wonderful Afterlife, Deepa Mehta`s Canadian-British film adaptation Midnight`s Children, and Mira Nair`s American political drama The Reluctant Fundamentalist. The year 2016 saw Shabana Azmi return to more commercial cinema with two back-to-back releases- one being the Juhi Chawla starrer Chalk N Duster, which was a flop at the box office, and the second one being the super-hit biographical film Neerja. For the latter, Azmi won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Directed by Ram Madhvani, the movie starred Sonam Kapoor in the titular role, with Shabana Azmi playing her mother. Her 2017 release includes critically acclaimed director Aparna Sen`s venture Sonata, which is a film adaptation of an eponymous play by the same name. The movie along with Shabana Azmi and Aparna Sen stars Lillete Dubey in an important role. Her 2020 release includes Kaali Khushi.