If you think Tabu's acting is enough to leave you gasping, wait until you find out who is her father!
In a recent interview given to the Indian media portals, Tabu made some shocking revelations that shocked Indian and Pakistani showbiz industries.
Tabassum Fatima Hashmi, better known as Tabu, is the daughter of Pakistani actor Jamal Hashmi. But why did the Fitoor actress keep it a secret? And who is Jamal Hashmi?
According to reports, the era of the 1970s witnessed Jamal Hashmi's rise to prominence as a Pakistani actor, marking his entry into the film industry under the guidance of Ali Affan Siddiqui, a Pakistani producer and director. Hashmi's rise to fame came after his performance in Ali Affan Siddiqui’s film Sazaa. Following the success, Jamal changed his name to Jameel Hashmi.
Hashmi married Rizwana — who is distantly associated with Indian actor Shabana Azmi — and the couple moved to Lahore, Pakistan from Hyderabad.
Facing ups and downs, Hashmi departed from the Pakistani film industry and settled in India with his wife. The couple then embraced parenthood and welcomed two daughters, Bollywood star Tabu, and her sister Farah Naaz.
But perhaps fate favored them only for a short time, because the couple sought divorce when Tabu was only 3 years old.
Afterwards, the daughters were brought up by their grandparents and their mother, while Hashmi got married again, and was blessed with 2 daughters.
Speaking to Simi Garewal on Rendezvous with Simi Garewal, Tabu once shared, “I never really used it, I never thought it was important for me to use my father’s surname, it was always Tabassum Fatima, which was my middle name. In school, Fatima was my surname. I have no memories of him. My sister has met him on occasion, but I have never really felt like meeting him.”
“I am not curious about him, I am happy the way I am, the way I have grown up. I am very settled in my own life.”
However, her elder sister, Farah Naz, kept in contact with him for a long time. It should be noted that according to various Indian media reports, Tabu's father was against his daughters working in the showbiz industry, so he never met her.
There was a time when Naz tried to convince her father to take him home, but Hashmi disagreed.
The IMDb trivia section also seems to contain the same information, and the actor's official Wikipedia page states, “Tabassum Fatima Hashmi was born on November 4 November 1971 to Jamal Ali Hashmi and Rizwana in a Hyderabadi Muslim family.”
For the unversed, Tabu’s sister was also a popular actress in the late eighties and starred in some successful films including Naseeb Apna Apna.
Tabu never married herself but her sister did. Farah was married to Vindu Dara Singh from 1996 to 2002 and had a son. She then settled with Sumeet Saigal in 2003.