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An actor extraordinaire, a maestro in Indian classical dance, an insightful teacher, Shobana is all of this and more. Though Shobana’s roots trace back to dancing and have achieved a lot in the field, the commoners in the country often recognize her as an exceptional actor who is best known for playing Ganga/ Nagavalli in ‘Manichithrathazhu’. Shobana, who has worked in over 225 films in various languages including Malayalam, Tamil, and English, has always been hard working. Seldom have we seen her speaking about her craft, as she is someone who loves manifesting them, rather than speaking.

Two times National award-winning actress (‘Manichithrathazhu’, ‘Mitr - My Friend’) Shobana’s acting chops hardly need an introduction. Today, Shobana is turning 52 years old, and on this occasion, let’s take a look at times when Shobana spoke about her thoughts on cinema and life.

(Pic courtesy: Instagram)

Shobana was taking a train from a remote village to the city when she heard about her first National Award. A bunch of reporters hopped onto the train and broke the news to her. She was thrilled to hear the news. But, what was the first thought that crossed her mind? “It took a long time coming (laughs)!” Shobana said, during an old interview.

(Pic courtesy: Instagram)

If you are well-versed about the career graph of Shobana, you would know that she hardly had time to even breathe! From Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and English films, Shobana always had a lot on her plate. As she had a plethora of good films to choose from in Malayalam and Tamil, she never yearned to act in Hindi films. “When I watched one of Madhuri Dixit’s films, I thought, what if I got to play that role. But apart from that, I have never really had that yearning to work in Hindi films. When you have so many good films here why would you want to leave all of this behind and go? I just wanted to do good cinemas. Not that I didn’t get any offers. I was asked for a Raj Kapoor film,” Shobana once said. However, Shobana has appeared in three Hindi films.

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Well, who would have thought that Shobana too had challenges while acting! Are we even talking about the Ganga? Before you jump to conclusions, let us tell you. Once when she was asked about what was her drawback as an actor, Shobana shared that memorizing the lines was tough for her! Adding to that she said that since she was born and raised in Chennai, it was difficult for her to memorize Malayalam lines, but with prompting she managed to do all that she has done! Well, we can’t even begin to imagine what would have happened if she could have dubbed all her Malayalam movies. The nation would have perhaps run out of awards! However, for Tamil movies, she was very fluent and dubbed her part herself.

(Pic courtesy: Instagram)

In movies, Shobana has often been portrayed as a jovial, fun-loving, spunky person, however, in real life, she is quite serious and a no-nonsense person. Earlier when we asked her about the same, Shobana said, “I am a person who likes to watch the outside world and when I do that, I find the world watching me back and that’s when I shrink into my space. I love watching people and the way they react and talk, their intonations as well as why they express what they do and how. I make it a point to be hugely fun-loving in appearances! What you are on screen, if that is the real you, then it ceases to be acting. In films like Thenmaavin Kombath, the character came out because of the brilliance of Priyadarshan. Movie making is a pursuit of art of like-minded individuals.”

(Pic courtesy: Instagram)

When asked about her favourite actors, Shobana once picked Mammootty and Mohanlal. “I have done so many films in Malayalam, that these actors cease to become actors, they become your friends. I really learned a lot from Mammootty. They are India's finest actors.

(Pic courtesy: Instagram)