Niharika Lal (BOMBAY TIMES; April 13, 2023)

Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore was recently in Delhi for a session titled Breaking The Boundaries: An Accidental Actor To An Idol. At the event, the actress shared why she consciously decided to do more meaningful roles after An Evening In Paris (1967), and chose films like Aradhana (1969), Amar Prem (1972), Avishkaar (1974) — which are still considered outstanding. The session was held on the sidelines of the 8th National Leadership Conclave & All India Management Association’s (AIMA) 13th Managing India Awards.


‘REALISED THAT A GLAM IMAGE IS ALL VERY GOOD, BUT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY, I HAVE TO BE MORE THAN THAT’
Talking about the reaction that her bikini scene in An Evening In Paris (1967) got, Sharmila Tagore said, “When I did An Evening In Paris, my bikini scene was shocking. The public, including the industry, was quite surprised. I believe there were questions asked in Parliament at that time.”

The actress added, “Although it looks very innocent now, compared to the kind of films we see today.”

“I remember there was a poster of the film on the road (near her home), and my mother-in-law was coming to town, so I got my driver to take down that poster in the middle of the night – not realizing that there might be other posters on the way from the airport,” Tagore said.

After the film’s release, Tagore said that she realized that “a glamorous image is all very good, but if I want to be taken seriously, then I have to be more than that. Fortunately, Aradhana (1969) arrived at that time, which I signed. From then on, I was consciously choosing my script. After Aradhana, there was Amar Prem (1972), Avishkar (1974), Mausam (1975), Namkeen (1982) and many other films that spoke to me. These films have stayed on. I managed to take myself beyond glamour. Glamour is not forever. You are very attractive, and the world goes crazy about you, but after a while, somebody else will take that place.”

‘SCRIPT IS PARAMOUNT’
With her recent film Gulmohar (2023), Tagore returned to acting after a gap of over a decade. Talking about how the film industry has become more structured over the years, she said, “The honest truth is that the script is paramount. The industry has come a long way. There’s so much that has improved in the industry, and you’ll be surprised to know that when we started we didn’t even have a script. Somebody would give us a narrative and tell us what the story is about, and then we would take it from there. The money was also not in place, except for Raj Kapoor, Shantaram, B R Chopra, and a few others. Movies took a long time to make, and we also didn’t have as many theatres. A film of Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, or Dev Anand would get released in all theatres, while a film like Anupama (1966) would not even get a release date for a long time. Everything was quite different.”

‘ARADHANA RUNNING IN THEATRES FOR 50 WEEKS PROVED THAT EMOTIONS TRANSCEND LANGUAGE’
Recalling the anti-Hindi agitation in Chennai around the time when Aradhana was released in 1969, Tagore said, “When Aradhana was released, there was a huge protest in Chennai against Hindi. At that time, there was kind of a Hindi boycott ongoing. Yet, Aradhana ran for 50 weeks in theatres. It was the RRR of our time.”

Sharmila added, “It just shows that emotions transcend language. Our films, irrespective of the region they come from, make people laugh and cry. Therefore, our commonalities far exceed our differences.”

‘AT THE AGE OF 13, I HAD NO IDEA WHO SATYAJIT RAY WAS OR HOW FAMOUS HE WAS’
Sharmila Tagore started her career with Satyajit Ray’s 1959 film Apur Sansar. Talking about how she didn’t realise how fortunate she was, she said, “When Satyajit Ray introduced me to cinema at the age of 13, I don’t think I quite appreciated that. It was obviously something that was accidental. The fact is that I did that film, and I did get noticed by the world. It opened so many doors for me. But at the age of 13, I had no idea who Satyajit Ray was or how famous he was.”

‘WE WERE COMPLETELY UNAWARE OF HINDU-MUSLIM ISSUES IN BOMBAY WHEN WE GOT MARRIED’
Sharmila Tagore married Tiger Pataudi (Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi) in 1968. In response to a question on the cultural differences between her family and the Pataudi family, she said that there was no cultural difference because she also belonged to a big family, adding, “When you are talking about Hindu-Muslim issue, in Mumbai, we were completely unaware of it. We just announced it to our respective parents and then it was their problem to sort it out. In Bengal, my parents were getting notes (threats) and similar things were happening here (in Mumbai). So much so, that one morning, I was told that some officials from Delhi have come to see me. They told me ‘You need protection and we have come to protect you.’ I said, ‘I think I’m all right and I don’t feel threatened in Mumbai.’ And it was true. The wedding went on peacefully and all went well. The perception was that there would be some kind of problem but thank God it didn’t happen.”