Jharna Basak (born 17 August 1946), known by her stage name Shabnam, is a Bangladeshi–Pakistani stage and film actress. Actor Waheed Murad introduced her to the Pakistani film industry by offering her a lead role in his film Samundar in 1968. Shabnam 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 has appeared in over 150 films films. She was a leading actress in the Pakistani film industry for 28 years. Shabnam migrated from East to West Pakistan in 1968, and lived in the country until the late 1990s, later she returned to her native Bangladesh. Early life Shabnam was born on 17 August 1946 in Dhaka, in the erstwhile British India in a Bengali Hindu family. Her father was Nani Basak, a football referee from Dhaka. As a young girl, she was more adventurous and tomboyish in nature in comparison to her sister, who was into singing. She would still practice dance moves. She was offered a role in a movie as a supporting dancer, thus beginning her career in arts. Career Shabnam began her career when her father got her admitted into the Bulbul Lalitakala Academy. 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 she be cast as a lead actress. That was when she starred in her Bengali debut film as a heroine, Harano Din. Shabnam moved to West Pakistan after the director Ehtesham cast her in his Urdu movie Chanda in the erstwhile West Pakistan. Since her Urdu wasn't that proficient at that point in time, the rehearsals were scripted in Bengali. The music of this film was composed by her husband Robin Ghosh. The film turned out to be a hit, starting her career in the top ranks of the Pakistan film industry. After starring in dozens of super-hit films, Shabnam became the number one reigning actress in Pakistan by the early 1970s. She retained that position until the mid-1980s, when she slowly started to retire. She is considered to probably be the only film actress in the world to have continuously and successfully played the romantic lead in films