Mahalakshmi Menon, best known by her stagename Shobha, was an Indian actress best known for her work in Malayalam and Tamil films. At the age of 17, she won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1979 Tamil film Pasi. She also received three Kerala State Film Awards: for Best Actress (1978), Best Supporting Actress (1977) and Best Child Artist (1971); and two Filmfare Awards South for Best Actress in Kannada (1978) and Tamil (1979) films. Considered one of the finest talents to have emerged in the Indian film world, her promising career was unexpectedly cut short as she committed suicide in 1980, due to unknown reasons. Her popularity resulted in considerable public scrutiny of the events that led to her death and also various conspiracy theories. The 1983 Malayalam film Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback is supposedly based on her life and death.
Shobha from the film Moodu Pani (1980)
National Film Award for Best Actress
The National Film Award for Best Actress is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to an actress for the best performance in a leading role within the Indian film industry. The National Film Awards were called the "State Awards for Films" when established in 1954. The State Awards instituted the "Best Actress" category in 1968 as the "Urvashi Award for the Best Actress"; in 1975, the "Urvashi Award" was renamed as the "Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actress". Throughout the years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of India has presented a total of 56 Best Actress awards to 45 different actresses.
2021 recipients: Alia Bhatt (left) and Kriti Sanon (right)
Nargis Dutt was the first-ever recipient of the Best Actress Award for her performance in Raat Aur Din in 1967.
With five wins, Shabana Azmi is the most awarded actor in this category. She is also the actress with most consecutive wins (3).
Shobana is two time winner for two different Languages -Manichitrathazhu (1993 Malayalam) and Mitr, My Friend ( 2001 English).