Veteran Pakistani film actress Jharna Basak, commonly known as Shabnam, is celebrating her 78th birthday today.

Born on 17th August, Shabnam was a Bangladeshi stage and film actress and was introduced to Pakistani film industry by legendary actor Waheed Murad in 1968, after which, she appeared in over 160 films and remained active in the 1960’s, 70s and 80s.

A close friend of her father got her a role in a dance sequence in the movie ‘Ei Desh Tomar Amar’.

Her next role was as a dancer in the movie ‘Rajdhanir Bukey’. When the song became a hit, the audience requested that Jharna be cast as a lead actress. That was when she starred in her Bengali debut film as a heroine, ‘Harano Din’.

Actor Waheed Murad introduced her to the Pakistani film industry by offering her a lead role in his film Samundar in 1968.

Jharna remained active in Lollywood in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. She has been nominated for Nigar awards several times, winning it 13 times (the most for an actress). She was a leading actress in the Pakistani film industry for 28 years.

The actress worked in 152 Urdu films, 14 Bengali and 4 Punjabi films by making her debut film in Bengal.

Jharna married music composer Robin Ghosh in 1966. Together they had one son; Ronnie Ghosh. Robin Ghosh died on 13 February 2016 in Dhaka, due to respiratory failures.

‘Chanda’ was her first Urdu film shot in Bangladesh. The apparent actress appeared in many films including, Ayna, Nacher Putul, Sondhi, Sondeho, Karon, Sohodhormini, jogajog, juli, Bashira, Dil and many others during her film career.

Shabnam is living in Bangladesh and visited Pakistan in February. Shabnam lastly performed in the movie ‘Ammajan’ in Dhaka film industry, which was directed by Kazi Hayat. She performed in that movie in the central role and it was released in 1999.

Shabnam-starrer notable films are ‘Ayna’, ‘Nacher Putul’, ‘Sondhi’, ‘Sondeho’, ‘Karon’, ‘Sohodhormini’, ‘Shorto’, ‘Jogajog’, ‘Juli’, ‘Bashira’, ‘Dil’, ‘Edesh Tomar Amar’, ‘Rajdhanir Buke’ and ‘Harano Din”.