Shabnam

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Shabnam (Bengali: শবনম) is a Bengali actress. She was active in the Pakistan and Bangladesh film industries from the early 1960s to much of the 1990s. Born in Dhaka East Bengal (now Bangladesh), she was considered a versatile, romantic and popular actress of Pakistan and later Bangladesh.

Shabnam is actually her film-name. Her real name is Jharna Basak (Bengali: ঝর্ণা বসাক). Her father is the well known Nani Basak, the Scout master and football referee from Dhaka. Shabnam is married to Robin Ghosh, a well known music composer.

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.

"Talaash" was an even bigger all Pakistan hit that followed next year. By mid sixties 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 mid 1980s.

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" 1999, a Dhaka production.She is now settled in Dhaka, Bangladesh.