Shobhna Samarth

Shobhana Samarth
Shobhna in the film Rambaan (1948)
Born	Saroj Shilotri (1916-11-17)17 November 1916 Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India (present-day Mumbai, Maharashtra, India)
Died	9 February 2000(2000-02-09) (aged 83) Pune, Maharashtra, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation(s)	Actress, director, producer
Spouse	Kumarsen Samarth (sep.)
Partner	Motilal
Children	4; incl. Nutan and Tanuja
Parents	Prabhakar Shilotri (father) Rattan Bai (mother)
Relatives	See Samarth family

Shobhana Samarth (17 November 1916 – 9 February 2000) was an Indian director, actress and producer, who began her career in the early days of talkie movies in the Hindi film industry and continued in lead roles into the 1950s.

She started in Marathi cinema. Her first Hindi film, Nigahen Nafrat, was released in 1935. She is best remembered for her portrayal of Sita in Ram Rajya (1943). In 1997, she was honoured with the Filmfare Special Award for her contribution to the arts.^[1]

Samarth later produced and directed a pair of movies that launched the careers of her daughters, Nutan and Tanuja.^[2]