These Five Films Starring Tabu Prove She Is A Versatile Actor With Eye For Good Scripts

Actor Tabassum Fatima Hashmi better known as Tabu announced on Instagram that she has finished filming schedule two of her film Khufiya—a Vishal Bhardwaj directorial. Subsequently, she is filming for Bholaa, a Hindi remake of the Tamil film Kaithi. She will also be reprising her role of IG Meera Deshmukh in the sequel of Drishyam.

The audiences are excited to watch Tabu’s magic unfold on the screen again.  Even though she first appeared in Dev Anand’s Hum Naujawan as a teen (1985), her major break came in 1991 when she starred opposite Venkatesh Dagubatti for Telugu film, Coolie No 1. In her career spanning over three decades, Tabu has managed to inveigle audiences and critics alike with her stellar performances.

Tabu predominantly has worked in the Hindi cinema industry but has worked in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi and English language films as well. She has also won two National Film Awards for her performances in Hindi films Maachis and Chandani Bar. Her most recent role as Saaeda Bai in the BBC series A Suitable Boy, an adaptation of Vikram Seth's novel of the same name, was appreciated by many. The grace in her movement, dialogue delivery and her expressions were much loved.

Five best Tabu films in Hindi cinema that show how skillful the actor is:

Cheeni Kum

Helmed by R Balki, the film is a mass entertainer and managed to tickle the funny bones of the viewers. Tabu’s Neena Verma locks horns with the arrogant chef Buddhadev (Amitabh Bachchan) which sets the premise for this quirky film. The way Tabu grasps the nuances of her character was highly praised. Tabu won a Filmfare award for her role in the film.

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Maqbool

Tabu essayed the role of Nimmi (Lady Macbeth) in Vishal Bhardwaj’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is often referred to as an ambitious, edgier woman and Tabu through her Nimmi livens the role for people to dive into the tragic comedy. The universally acclaimed film also starred Irrfan Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, and Pankaj Kapur.

Haider

Tabu collaborated with Vishal Bhardwaj in another of his Shakespeare adaptation. Starring as Ghazala Meer (Gertrude in Hamlet), Tabu gave a spine-chilling performance in the film. The naturalism with which she portrayed Ghazala, the character’s inner turmoil of guilt and desire translated into beautiful visuals. Replete with seasoned actors like Kay Kay Menon, Shahid Kapoor, the film received a lot of praise.

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Chandani Bar

Mumtaz (Tabu) is a naïve girl from rural India who comes to Mumbai after her family is killed in communal riots and her quest to get away from the dark underbelly of the city forms the plot of the film. Her character is subjected to sexual assault, violence in the film which pushes her back into circumstances she wanted to get away from. Her performance in the Madhur Bhandarkar film fetched second National Award.

Astitva

The bilingual film explores the quest of Aditi Pandit (Tabu) to find her identity outside of her marriage. Playing Aditi was not easy since the actor had to navigate and understand the complex emotions the character was feeling and Tabu does it effortlessly. Tabu’s performance in Mahesh Manjrekar's directorial is considered as one of her best performances and rightly so. Sachin Khedekar, Sunil Barve, Mohnish Bahl, Smita Jaykar also feature in the film.