Without meaning to, Tabassum Naaz's dreamy intelligent looks make one stop and think.

Confused?

Well, she's this generation's answer to Shabana Azmi, or even Dimple and Shabana rolled into one, as she certainly combines the best of brains with a gorgeous face atop a perfect height. Almost 30 years old, Tabu has seen it all. A disastrous debut in a Dev Anand film (where she plays a raped and killed teenager), an inauspicious wait for her first release with the second Kapoor clan's heir apparent, Sanjay Kapoor, Prem and of course a failed affair with Divya Bharati's widower, Sajid Nadiadwala. Tabu has been there, done that. A product of divorced parents, niece of Shabana Azmi and sister of the yesteryear's fiery not so successful actress, Farah, Tabu is in a league of her own.

After Prem flopped, she tried her hand at indiscriminate acting. Pehla Pehla Pyar, Himmat, Saajan Ki Bahon Mein, Vijaypath, Haqueequat… a number of such mediocre releases later, she was still floundering. Only Vijaypath got her some recognition, that too for all the wrong reasons, a street dancing song, Ruk Ruk Ruk, that she looks perfectly out-of-place in.

Someone, somewhere was watching her because she got two perfect opportunities to prove herself, Priyadarshan's Sazaa-E-Kalapani and of course, Gulzaar's Machis. These two films changed the course of her career. As a simple, rustic girl from affluent rural Punjab, wronged by history, an unmade up and ordinarily clad Tabu looked just right for the part. The determination of her character to get justice for her friend and lover, Chandrachud Singh, even preferring death to torture at the hands of the police after being labeled a terrorist, reflects in her face. The performance got her the best actress award and truly, she looked far more comfortable intensely emoting than dancing with flashy beggars on the streets in Vijaypath.

The next step was on a still higher plane, Gulzar had discovered her, and she was his lead girl in Hu Tu Tu, a political statement. Tabu was outstanding again. Then came Virasat, getting her recognition, followed by a miniscule role in Border and of course, Rajeev Menon's Kandukondain Kandukondain. Tabu has never lowered her standards after that. A number of films have proved that Tabu as an actress is in a different plane from her contemporaries. Tarkieb, in which she paired with Nana Patekar, Takshak, with Ajay Devgan, Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar ( a different style of film with Manoj Bajpai), and Ghaat again with Manoj Bajpai, have all been trendsetters, whether successful or not.

Trying her hand at comedy in Biwi No.1 and of course, Hera Pheri, Tabu has again showed her mettle. Her most forgettable role has been as a goody goody badi bhabi of a whole crowd of youngsters in Hum Saath Saath Hain. However, in the tragicomedy, Chachi 420, she again surpasses herself as the egoistic estranged wife of the versatile Kamal Hasan.

It was however, Astitva that really put her in a league apart. In the role of middle-aged wife who summons up courage to tell her husband that he is not the father of their son and then walking out on him, she outdoes herself. The film didn't do too well but that is for no fault of Tabu's.

Recently in news for Chandni Bar, a film on bar-dancers of the sleazier part of Mumbai, Tabu is all aglow with the rave reviews she has earned. Great going.