Born as Saba Singh Grewal, Saba azad was born on 1st November 1985 in Delhi, the capital city of India. Saba is an Indian actress. She is also a theatre director and musician.
She worked in an electric Duo, where she was co-musician Imaad shah, with the Duo named, Madboy/Mink.
She is thirty-seven years old, making her Bollywood debut with the movie Dil Kabaddi, released in 2008, where she played one of the leading roles, namely Raaga Malik. Although she is popular for her lead role in a romantic movie, Mujhse Friendship karoge, released in 2011. She played the role of Preity Sen.
Saba Azad Wiki
| Birth name | Saba Singh Grewal |
| Current name | Saba Sultana Azad |
| Nickname | Saba Mink |
| Profession | Actress, musician, Restaurateur and theatre Director |
| Date of Birth | 1st November 1985 |
| Age | 37 years old |
| Birthplace | Delhi, India |
| Zodiac Sign | Scorpio |
| Height (approx.) | 160 cm 1.60 m 5feet 3 inches |
| Weight (approx.) | 121 Ibs in pound 55 kgs in kilograms |
| Eye colour | Black |
| Hair colour | Black |
| Figure | 34,25,32 |
| Religion | Sikhism |
Early Life & Childhood
She was born to a Sikh father, PM Singh Grewal, a professor by profession and a Kashmiri mother, whose name remains unknown.
She also has an elder brother as a sibling. She got into the theatre and acting field with the help of Sadar Hashmi, a communist theatre writer, who was her uncle.
She worked with her uncle, Sadar Hashmi, in his Theatre group, Jana Natya Manch, since a very young age. She worked with big stars, including M.K Raina, G.P Deshpande, N.K Sharma, and Habib Tanvir.
She started her film career after schooling after she got a lead role in a short film, Guroor, directed by a famous director, Ishan Nair. This short film gained so much popularity that it travelled to Film Festivals in New York and Florence.
After this successful short film, she got to work on many more short films and finally entered the Big Bollywood World. She gained a lot of popularity while working in short films itself.
Other Talent
Saba is a good actor, musician, director, and trained dancer in many classic and modern dance forms. She is a trained dancer of Odissi, which she has learned from her Guru, Kiran Segal, and had travelled to many countries like Nepal, England and Canada to give her performances. She is also trained in Classic Ballet, Some Contemporary Dances Jazz and Latin.
Her hobbies include Travelling and dancing. This itself shows how fond she is of dancing. In her leisure time, she spends it expressing her moves.
Career.
She started her Bollywood debut with the movie Dil kabaddi in 2008, in Anil Senior’s film. Later she received a lead role in Y Films in 2011, namely Mujhse Fraaandship karoge. She played the role of Preity Sen, opposite to new commers Nishant Dahiya and Saqib Saleem. She also worked in the web series of the same Y Films, Ladies Room. She played the role of Dingo in there.
She played roles in several short films, including ‘Strangers in the Night’, ‘Connected’, ‘Pure Veg’ and ‘home stories’. Web series including ‘Love Shorts’, ‘Feels Like Ishq’ and ‘rochet Boys’.
Azad is a good actor and a skilled and gifted musician. She started a duo with Imaad Shah, and they went to different cities to play their electric music. The band was popularly known as Madboy/Mink, giving her fame nationwide.
She has also recorded songs like ‘Dhak Dhak karne laga’, for ‘Nautanki saala’ in the year 2013, ‘Calcutta Kiss’ for ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy’ in the year 2015, ‘Neend na mujhko aye’ for ‘Shandaar’ in the same year and ‘Nakhrewali’ for the movie ‘Mard ko dard nahi hota’ in the year 2018.
Her home town being Delhi, she moved to Mumbai, when she was offered to act in two men’s play that Makarand Deshpande directed in the Prithvi Theatre. Azad started her own theatre company ‘The Skins’ in 2010. She directed her first play ‘Lovepuke’ which opened at NCPA’s experimental theatre in September 2010.
Controversies
She has been part of two controversies.
- She was criticized when she decided to change her name from Saba Grewal to Saba Azad. She claimed to have taken the surname ‘Azad’ to ensure she was free of all the religious tags. She also said that the name was used by her Nani as her pen name.
- She protested against CAA in the Shaheen Bagh and recited Faiz Saheb’s Nazm. The viral message says that the protest was to celebrate the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits, in which she had actively participated. This made the public angry. She sang ‘Tu Zinda Hai’, which is an Indian Theatre-associated song and ‘Bol Ke Lab Azad Hain’ by Faiz Saheb.
Saba Azad boyfriends
When she was part of the Mumbai-based Electro Funk, a Duo band, she worked with Imaad Shah (also known as Madboy), her co-artist. They were in a professional as well as Romantic relationship that was agreed upon by them.
They have been working together since 2012, and Imaad stated that their interest in the same field, electric music, led him to have an interest in each other. They went to perform in several cities together, and in 2013, it was public that they had been living together. They stayed in a relationship for seven years and finally broke up in 2020.
The most interesting part is that she has been dating Hrithik Roshan now, and he has been the one wishing luck to Gigi since their relationship. They have also confirmed their relationship in social media with his recent post, where he congratulated his girlfriend for her new project. They have a huge age gap of twelve years, which proves love knows no boundaries. She is not married yet and was never married anyone before.
Some unknown facts about Saba
- She fell under controversy once when she decided to change her name to Saba Azad from Saba Grewal. People criticized her for the same, and this made her popularity go down. But she handled the matter very carefully by giving a statement that said that she was a very proud daughter of a Sardar and a Kashmiri; hence she grew up in a secular environment. She mentioned that she took the title Azad because that means ‘Free’ in English; hence she wanted to be free from all the religious tags and pressure. She claimed that this was her nani’s pen name.
- Before her debut in Bollywood, she worked in many short films, starting right from guroor, that she worked when she immediately had completed her schooling. The same short film went to Film Festivals in countries like New York and Florence.
- She has worked in many big commercials, including that of kit kat, Cadbury, Pond’s, Sunsilk, Vodafone, Google, Airtel and many more.
- Being born and brought up in a very communist environment, she is very vocal about the several policies that were passed, including the CAA protest that was organized by Shaheen Bagh, where she performed with several artist. She said that people no a day have started having a problem with Faiz Sahab, so she decided to recite a nazm by him. She is said to be under controversy then.
- When she played the lead role in the movie, ‘Mujhse Fraaandship karoge’, she had to cut her knee-length hair, and she cried. But she eventually liked her haircut and started to follow the same look.
- She has her own theatre company called ‘The Skin’, which he opened in the year 2010.
- In 2013, Yash Raj Film’s Talent Division posted a Dhoom anthem in YouTube, in which Saba Azad was the star.
FAQs about Saba
- Do Saba smoke and drink?
Ans. Yes, Saba Azad smokes and drinks. She has posted in her Instagram handle about her drinking beer.
- Is Saba married to Hrithik?
Ans. No, but he is her boyfriend. She is not married to him yet. They started dating in the year 2020.
- When did Saba and Imaad broke up?
Ans. In the year 2020, they announced their separation.
- What is Saba Azad’s favourite food?
Ans. Saba likes to eat Egg Salmon and enjoys Khasi Thali.