Happy Birthday Tabu: From Andhadhun, Astitva, Chandni Bar to Cheeni Kum, Drishyam, Haider; actor's best roles till date

In Sriram Raghavan's Andhadhun, Tabu played the role of Simi, who is an unapologetic and gold digger. She married a rich actor and had an extra-marital affair with a cop. Her character had no inhibitions in killing off her husband, neighbour and also blinding Ayushmann Khurrana's character. For the character, Tabu won several accolades as well.

In Mahesh Manjrekar's Astitva, Tabu was seen as Aditi Pandit, who has an illegitimate son with her music teacher and her husband gets to know the truth after many years of their marriage. In this film, she showed how a woman is unforgiven and despised for a mistake while men aren't questioned for their multiple mistakes and taking their partners for granted.

Chandni Bar fetched Tabu her second National Film Award for Best Actress in the year 2001. In the Madhur Bhandarkar directorial, the talented actor played the role of a bar dancer who becomes a victim of rape in the hands of her uncle. She then falls for a gangster played by Atul Kulkarni but is again brought back into the hole of dance bar due to circumstances.

In R Balki's Cheeni Kum, Tabu was paired opposite Amitabh Bachchan and the film showed age gap doesn't matter when it comes to love. She played the role of a 34-year-old woman while Big B was seen as a 64-year-old restaurateur. 

A fearless cop, who controls to show her vulnerable side knowing that her son is missing and is probably killed by a family, Tabu is to watch out for in Drishyam.

How can we not put Haider in this list?! In this Vishal Bhardwaj directorial which was the adaptation of Shakespearean play Hamlet, Tabu was seen as Ghazala Meer (Gertrude), who remarries her husband's brother after he is killed. She shares an intimate relationship with her son played by Shahid Kapoor, who is obsessed with her mother and can't see her with anyone else.

Hu Tu Tu directed by Gulzar, had Tabu playing the role of Panna, daughter of Chief Minister Malti Barve played by Suhasini Mulay. She is paired opposite Suneil Shetty and the film shows how the next generation of the political family gets affected due to all professional and personal rivalry.

In Jeet, Tabu is seen playing the role of a sex worker Tulsi who befriends Sunny Deol's character, Karan. Though she was a supporting role in the film, the character is applauded by many.

Maachis is the first film for which Tabu received a National Film Award in the Best Actress category. In the film, directed by Gulzar, the talented actor played the role of Virender Kaur a.k.a. Veeran and was paired opposite Chandrachur Singh.

With Vijaypath, Tabu made it as the leading actor in Bollywood and she was paired opposite Ajay Devgn in the film. 

In Virasat, Tabu was seen as a shy and adorable person who is married to Anil Kapoor's character after his father's untimely death. She then becomes his support system and it's one of the best work by Tabu till date.

(All photos via Movie Stills)