Shabana (شبانہ) is from the Persian-Urdu *shabāna* — "nocturnal, of the night, lovely." **Shabana Azmi (born 1950)** — **Indian actress; **a record five National Film Awards for Best Actress — the most ever by an Indian actress** — for *Ankur* (1974, her debut), *Arth* (1982), *Khandhar* (1983), *Paar* (1984), and *Godmother* (1999); the only Indian actress to win the National Award in three consecutive years (1982, 1983, 1984)**. **Padma Bhushan (2012); Padma Shri (1988); Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum (2006) for her humanitarian work on HIV/AIDS, women's rights, and Mumbai slum welfare**. **Cannes Film Festival jury member (2013); served in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the Indian Parliament) 1997-2003**. **One of the most internationally acclaimed actresses of the Parallel Cinema (Indian art-film) movement of the 1970s-1980s, which paralleled the European New Wave**. **Daughter of Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi; wife of filmmaker Javed Akhtar**. **Shabana** is also a popular Pashto folk-song tradition in northern Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Featured throughout the Indian Parallel Cinema movement.
Shabana reduces to six — the number of National Film Award record.