MUMBAI MIRROR (October 26, 2017)

Sharmila Tagore, who was honoured on Tuesday with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Delhi’s Siri Fort Auditorium, said on the sidelines of the event that the life of a heroine during her hey days was not so exciting.

“During our times, it was nothing better than a good cry. We had to all look helpless...so, I think these people (heroines today) are having much more fun,” the veteran actress was recently quoted as saying.

Recounting the time when she played leading lady roles, Tagore added that heroines couldn’t be bad so it was the characters with negative or grey overtones who would be. “So Helen had all the fun. Also, we were working in three or four films at a time. So, maintaining a continuity was difficult because today Aamir Khan can put on and lose weight... we couldn’t do all that,” she added.

Talking about her repertoire of films, she said, “I like Safar and Mausam. People really like Amar Prem and Aradhana. The shelf life of these films is still there... but my favourite are the first two.”

About her favourite co-star, she said, “I liked Shashi (Kapoor) very much. He’s a friend. Of course, with Rajesh Khanna ji (Aaradhna, Amar Prem, Chhoti Bahu, Safar) I gave several hits, and Dharmendra (Mere Humdum Mere Dost, Chupke Chupke, Anupama, Ek Mahal Ho Sapnon Ka, among others).”