Mumbai: Today is Sharmila Tagore’s birthday, the actress who popularized the bikini culture in the Hindi film industry. Sharmila turns 76 Tuesday. Even at this age, her grace and charm is overpowering. In the 1960-70s, Sharmila had many great films to her credit. The film Kashmir Ki Kali took Sharmila’s career to a pinnacle.
Sharmila was the first heroine who surprised people by wearing a bikini in the 60s. Her bold avatar raised many eyebrows back then.
Sharmila started her film career in 1959 with Satyajit Ray’s film Apur Sansar. Sharmila chose Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, the famous cricketer and captain of the Indian team, as her life partner. Sharmila received four consecutive Bengali film offers. Tagore converted to Islam prior to the ceremony and changed her name to Ayesha Begum. They had three children: Saif Ali Khan (b. 1970), a Bollywood actor, Saba Ali Khan (b. 1976), a jewellery designer, and Soha Ali Khan.
But few know that she was a diehard fan of Shashi Kapoor since childhood.
One day while shooting for a film, Shashi Kapoor suddenly arrived on the sets. Sharmila lost her senses after seeing the actor.
Seeing Sharmila’s condition, the director stopped shooting and asked Shashi Kapoor to leave soon from the set. Sharmila was just sitting at one place and staring at Shashi. The entire team of the film was trying to convince her but she was not ready to listen to anyone.
However, in her second Hindi film Waqt, Sharmila also got the opportunity to work with Shashi Kapoor.