Saba Azad (born as Saba Singh Grewal, 1 November 1985) is an Indian actress, theatre director and musician. She is one half of Mumbai-based electro funk duo Madboy/Mink. She made her Bollywood debut as one of the leads Raaga in the indie film ''

Dil Kabaddi ''Dil Kabaddi'' is an Indian Hindi film directed by debutante Anil Sharma. The film stars Irrfan Khan, Rahul Bose, Konkona Sen Sharma, Soha Ali Khan, Payal Rohatgi, Rahul Khanna and special appearance by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Synopsis The movie ...

'' (2008). She is known for her leading role in the romantic comedy film ''

Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge ''Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge'' () is a 2011 Indian Bollywood, Hindi romantic comedy film directed by debutante Nupur Asthana, starring debutant actors Saqib Saleem, Saba Azad, Tara D'Souza and Nishant Dahiya in the lead roles. The film is the sec ...

'' (2011). She also played the role of Dingo in the 2016

Y-Films Y-Films is an Indian film production and distribution company, based in Mumbai. The company is a subsidiary of Yash Raj Films. History The company was launched on 1 April 2011 by Aditya Chopra, who revealed that Yash Raj Films Yash Raj Fi ...

web series, ''Ladies Room''.

Early life

Azad was born in Delhi to a Punjabi father and a Kashmiri mother. She is the niece of theatre great

Safdar Hashmi Safdar Hashmi (12 April 1954 – 2 January 1989) was a communist playwright and director, best known for his work with street theatre in India. He was also an actor, lyricist, and theorist, and he is still considered an important voice in Indian ...

. Born into a theatre family, Azad performed with Safdar Hashmi's theatre group

Jana Natya Manch Jana Natya Manch (People's Theatre Front; Janam for short) is a New Delhi-based amateur theatre company specialising in left-wing street theatre in Hindi. It was founded in 1973 by a group of Delhi's radical theatre amateurs who sought to take the ...

in their stage productions since a very young age, where she worked with

Habib Tanvir Habib Tanvir (1 September 1923 – 8 June 2009) was one of the most popular Indian Urdu, Hindi playwrights, a theatre director, poet and actor. He was the writer of plays such as, ''Agra Bazar'' (1954) and ''Charandas Chor'' (1975). A pio ...

, MK Raina, GP Deshpande and NK Sharma. She also trained in dance forms like Odissi, classical ballet, jazz, Latin as well as contemporary dance forms. Traveling with her Odissi guru, Kiran Segal, she performed in and outside the country including England, Canada and Nepal. Her stint with cinema started after schooling when she landed a lead role in a short film ''Guroor'' for director Ishaan Nair which travelled to festivals in New York and Florence. She has since gone on to work in many short films.

Career

Saqib Saleem and Saba Azad at JAB TAK HAI JAAN premiere

She made her

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

debut in 2008 with Anil Senior's ''

'' opposite

Rahul Bose Rahul Bose (born 27 July 1967) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, and social activist. Bose has appeared in Bengali films such as ''Mr. and Mrs. Iyer'', '' Kalpurush'', ''Anuranan'', ''Antaheen'', ''Laptop'' and ''The Japanese Wife''. ...

. She appeared in a leading role as Preity Sen in

'' opposite newcomers Nishant Dahiya and

Saqib Saleem Saqib Saleem Qureshi (; born 8 April 1988) is an Indian film actor and model who works in the Hindi film industry. He worked as a model before beginning his film career. After moving to Mumbai, Saqib appeared in several advertisements. While do ...

. Azad is a popular musician and singer in the Indian indie music scene and one half of widely popular electronic band Madboy/Mink which she started with actor and musician

Imaad Shah Imaaduddin Shah (also credited as Imaad Shah; born 20 September 1986) is an Indian actor and musician. He is the son of actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah. Early life Imaad was born to actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak on 20 ...

in 2012. Azad started her own theatre company The Skins in 2010 and directed her first play ''Lovepuke'' which opened at NCPA's experimental theatre in September 2010. Azad moved to Mumbai from Delhi and acted in a two-man play directed by Makarand Deshpande staged at

Prithvi Theatre Prithvi Theatre is one of Mumbai's best known theatres. It was built by Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jennifer Kapoor in memory of Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi's father, who had dreamt of having a "home" for his repertory theatre company, Prithvi Th ...

. She has featured in commercials for

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...

Pond's Pond's is an American brand of beauty and health care products, currently owned by Unilever. History Pond's Cream was invented in the United States as a patent medicine by pharmacist Theron T. Pond (1800–1852) of Utica, New York, in 1846. M ...

Maggi Maggi ( or ) is an international brand of seasonings, instant soups, and noodles that originated in Switzerland in the late 19th century. The Maggi company was acquired by Nestlé in 1947. History Early history Julius Maggi (1846–1912) ...

Tata Sky Tata Play (stylised as TΛTΛ PLΛY, formerly TΛTΛ , sky) is an Indian direct broadcast satellite (DTH) service provider using MPEG-4 digital compression technology, transmitting using INSAT-4A and GSAT-10 satellite. Incorporated in 2005; it ...

, Google,

Kit Kat Kit Kat (stylised as KitKat in various countries) is a chocolate-covered wafer bar confection created by Rowntree's of York, United Kingdom, and is now produced globally by Nestlé (which acquired Rowntree's in 1988), except in the United Stat ...

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

Sunsilk Sunsilk is a British hair care brand produced by the company Unilever. The brand was introduced in 1954 in the UK and available in most countries globally. It is a hair care brand in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, an ...

, Nescafe,

Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as (d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Current ...

as well as print campaigns for

Clean & Clear Clean & Clear is an American brand of dermatology products owned by Johnson & Johnson. Most products aim towards young women and men, but some treat a wider range of conditions, such as the "SOFT" line. Clean & Clear is currently available in 46 c ...

, Westside and

Amway Amway (short for "American Way") is an American multi-level marketing (MLM) company that sells health, beauty, and home care products. The company was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos and is based in Ada, Michigan. Amway and it ...

and many more.

Filmography

Film

Web series

Discography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Azad, Saba Living people 1990 births Actresses from Delhi Indian film actresses Indian television actresses Indian web series actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Hindi television Women musicians from Delhi Actresses from Mumbai Bollywood playback singers Indian theatre directors Indian people Indian Sikhs Indian women Punjabi people 21st-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian singers