Shabana Azmi started her acting journey on this day in 1974 when "Ankur" was released and the award-winning actress thanks Shyam Bengal for her first break.

The 64-year-old took to Twitter Thursday to share her thoughts and posted: "My first film ANKUR was released 40 years ago on 24th sep 1974. Thank u Shyam Bengal for giving me such a wonderful break (sic)."

Post "Ankur", Shabana became a name to reckon with in Indian parallel cinema, thanks to her performance in films such as "Shatranj Ke Khilari", "Arth", "Swami", "Mandi", "Masoom" and "Junoon".


She was equally active in mainstream cinema with films like "Fakira", "Amar Akbar Anthony" and "Parvarish".

In recent times, she has won accolades for her work in "Fire", "Godmother", "Morning Raga" and "Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd."

Apart from acting, the actress is also into social work. She runs NGO Mijwan Welfare Society along and last month she announced that she is doing a short film on domestic violence titled "Outside".