B-town wishes Shabana Azmi on birthday

As evergreen actor Shabana Azmi turned 69 today, a string of fellow celebrities wished her a year full of love and happiness.

To wish the veteran actor on her special day, friends from the film fraternity including Rishi Kapoor, l Kapoor, Urmila Matondkar, Dia Mirza, and Msh Malhotra, posted adorable messages for the star on social media.

Yesteryear superstar Rishi Kapoor, who has shared screen space with Shabana in films like 'Rahi Badal Gaye', 'Amar Akbar Anthony' and 'Tehzeeb', among many others, wished the 'Arth' actor by posting a sweet message on Twitter.

He wrote, "Many happy returns of the day dear @AzmiShabana What a joy it is for any actor to work with you! God Bless."

l Kapoor too showered the actor with love and called her his "support system, friend and inspiration."

"Happy Birthday, @AzmiShabana! Thank you for always being a part of my support system, my friend, inspiration and much more! May you have a fantastic year! Lots of love," l tweeted along with a beautiful picture of Shabana.

Urmila Matondkar too extended her heartfelt wishes on Twitter by writing, "Happy Birthday @AzmiShabana You've been an inspiration in more ways than one. Lots of love,respect and regards."

Along with the sweet birthday wish, Urmila also shared a beautiful throwback picture featuring them together.

Dia Mirza also showered the veteran star with love. Calling her fierce, Dia went on to say that she can't imagine what her life would be without the evergreen actor's "wisdom and grace."

"Happy Birthday @AzmiShabana you love and live bravely, you are tender and fierce, you lift other women and always shine the light on what is right. I love you so much. Can't imagine what my life would be without your wisdom and grace," she tweeted along with a mesmerising still of the two.

Wishing the ever-so elegant and graceful Shabana, Msh Malhotra posted a beautiful photo of the star on Instagram and wrote, "Elegant and Charming and always fabulous @azmishabana18 Birthday love."

The veteran star was born on September 18, 1950, to poet Kaifi Azmi and stage actor Shaukat Azmi.

Shabana made her film debut in 1974 with legendary filmmaker Shyam Benegal's 'Ankur: The Seedling'.

Shabana, who has featured in over a 100 films, is best known for her performances in Satyajit Ray's 'Shatranj Ke Khilari', 'Nishant', 'Junoon', 'Arth', 'Sparsh', 'Disha', 'Susman' and 'Khandhar', among several others.

Regarded as one of the finest actors in India, Shabana's acting prowess in films in a variety of genres have earned her praise and awards. In 1988, the Government of India awarded her with Padma Shri. She is also a five-time National Award winner.

( With inputs from ANI )