Biography

Farida Akhtar Poppy, known by her stage name Babita, is a Bangladeshi film actress. She is best known for her performance in Satyajit Ray's Distant Thunder, a novel adaptation about the Bengal famine of 1943, which won the Golden Bear prize at the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival in 1973. She was active in the 1970s through 1990s as an actress in Bangladeshi films. She acted in 275 films. After winning the National Film Award in 1975, she won three consecutive best actress prizes. She won Best Actor in 1986, Best Producer in 1997 and Best Supporting Actress Award twice in 2002 and 2012. In addition, she was awarded the lifetime achievement award of the National Film Award in the year 2016. In 2023, Bob Dubey, the mayor of Richardson, a city in North Texas, officially declared August 5 as "Babita Day" in honor of her.