Shabnam - Career

Career

She shot to fame with the hit Bengali film Harano Din (1961) and attained all Pakistan stardom with the box office Urdu hit Chanda (1962). Both the films were produced from Dhaka, East Pakistan.

Talaash was an even bigger than all Pakistan hit that followed next year. By mid 1960s, she became one of the most popular actresses of Pakistan. Professional commitments eventually took her to Karachi, Pakistan where she settled down in 1968. By early 1970s, Shabnam established her position in Lollywood (Lahore) to ultimately become the most popular heroine in the history of Pakistan films. She reigned supreme as an actress in Pakistan until the lull in the Pakistan film industry in the late 1980s. She is probably the only film actress in the world to have continuously and successfully played the romantic lead in films for almost three decades, from the early 1960s to the late 1980s.

Shabnam plays the leading role in Aina; which holds the distinction for being the longest running Pakistani film on record.1960's popular song 'Socha tha piyar na karenge', picturized on Shabnum with Waheed Murad in film Ladla, written by Kaif Rizvani made her very popular.

Around 1988, she switched on to character acting and was again doing films in her native Dhaka and Lahore. During her career of nearly 40 years she acted in about 180 movies which included innumerable hits. She won the coveted Nigar award 13 times and also bagged the Pakistan National Award thrice. Her last film was the Bangla super hit "Amma Jan" (i.e. 'Dear Mother')1999, a Dhaka production in which she performed the title role. She is now settled in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Shabnam lastly performed in movie 'Aammajaan,’ directed by Kazi Hayat. She performed in that movie in the central role and it was released in 1999.