Indian actress Tabu appears primarily in Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil films. Her first credited role came as a teenager in Dev Anand's Hum Naujawan (1985), and her first major role was in the Telugu film Coolie No. 1 (1991). [1] [2] In 1994, Tabu received the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut for the Hindi action drama Vijaypath , which marked her first of many collaborations with co-star Ajay Devgn. [3] The year 1996 was key for Tabu. [4] Her performance as a young woman affected by the Punjab insurgency in Gulzar's Maachis proved to be a breakthrough, winning her the National Film Award for Best Actress. [4] [5] Also that year, Tabu won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for the romance Ninne Pelladata , and featured alongside Govinda in the comedy film Saajan Chale Sasural . [6] [7]
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Tabu had a brief role in the war film Border , the highest-grossing Hindi film of 1997, and portrayed a village girl opposite Anil Kapoor in the Priyadarshan-directed drama Virasat . [8] [9] Among her 1999 releases were two of the top-grossing Bollywood films of the year—the comedy Biwi No.1 , and the family drama Hum Saath-Saath Hain . [10] She also starred as the rebellious daughter of a corrupt politician in Gulzar's critically praised drama Hu Tu Tu (1999). [11] [12] The following year, she starred in Kandukondain Kandukondain , a Tamil adaptation of Sense and Sensibility , and played a submissive homemaker in the bilingual drama Astitva . [13] [14] Tabu garnered a second National Film Award for Best Actress for portraying a bar dancer in Madhur Bhandarkar's crime drama Chandni Bar (2001). [15] [16] In 2003, she starred in the Bengali film Abar Aranye , and portrayed a character based on Lady Macbeth, in Maqbool —an adaptation of Macbeth from Vishal Bhardwaj. [17] [18] Following a few commercial failures, [19] Tabu played triple roles in M. F. Husain's musical drama Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities . [20] Tabu's first international project came with Mira Nair's adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's novel The Namesake . [14] [21] In R. Balki's Cheeni Kum (2007), Tabu starred alongside Amitabh Bachchan as a woman romantically involved with a much older man; [15] the role earned her a record fourth Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress. [a] [23] [24]
Following a brief role in Ang Lee's adventure film Life of Pi (2012), [25] [26] Tabu starred alongside Salman Khan in Jai Ho , and garnered critical acclaim for playing the Gertrude character in Bhardwaj's Haider . [27] [28] She won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for the latter. [29] Tabu's career continued to expand with starring roles opposite Devgn in the thriller Drishyam (2015), the horror comedy Golmaal Again (2017), and the romantic comedy De De Pyaar De (2019). [30] She gained acclaim for playing a murderess in Andhadhun (2018), which ranks as one of the highest-grossing Indian films. [31] [32] In 2020, she featured in the top-grossing Telugu film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo , winning the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Telugu, and starred in the British miniseries A Suitable Boy . [33] [34] [35] Further commercial successes came in 2022 with the sequels Drishyam 2 and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and the female-led heist comedy Crew (2024). [36] Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 won her another Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress. [37]
