The South Asia Program at Cornell will present "In Conversation with Shabana Azmi," featuring the Indian film star and activist, Aug. 28 in Alice Statler Auditorium.

The event begins with a screening of director Deepa Mehta's film "Fire" (starring Azmi) at 4:30 p.m., followed by the documentary film "Shabana" at 6:30 p.m. and a discussion with the actress at 7:30 p.m. The films and discussion are free and open to the public.

Azmi -- the daughter of renowned leftist Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi and stage actress Shaukat Kaifi -- has acted in more than 100 films in Hindi since 1974. She has won five National Awards for Best Actress, an achievement unmatched in Indian cinema. "Shabana Azmi in her very first film, 'Ankur,' firmly establishes herself as the finest dramatic actress of the country," filmmaker Satyajit Ray writes in his book, "Our Films Their Films."

Azmi also has appeared in several English-language films, including John Schlesinger's "Madame Sousatzka," starring Shirley MacLaine; Nicholas Klotz's "The Bengali Night," with John Hurt and Hugh Grant,; and Roland Joffe's "City of Joy" starring Patrick Swayze.

Her performance in "Fire" earned Best Actress honors at the Chicago International Film Festival and Los Angeles' Outfest in 1996.

Retrospectives of her films have been held at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Norwegian Film Institute, the Smithsonian Institution and the American Film Institute in Washington, D.C., Pacific Cinemetheque and Winnipeg Cinematheque.

A committed social activist inspired by her father's work with construction laborers, she once undertook a five-day hunger strike for the slum dwellers in Bombay. She has degrees in psychology from St. Xavier's College, Bombay (now Mumbai), and in acting from the Film Institute in Pune, India.

The Aug. 28 event is co-sponsored with the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, Society for the Humanities, Office of International Initiatives, Hans Bethe House, Department of Theatre, Film and Dance and the U.S. Department of Education.