Sharmila Tagore

Biography :

Sharmila Tagore (also known as Begum Ayesha Sultana; born 8 December 1946) is an Indian film actress known for her works predominantly in Hindi cinema. She has received two National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards for her performances.

She led the Indian Film Censor Board from October 2004 till March 2011. In December 2005 she was chosen as an UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. She was one of the International Competition's Jury Members at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In 2013, she was awarded Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.

Early life :

Tagore was born in Kanpur to Ira Barua, an Assamese and Gitindranath Tagore, a Bengali.

Tagore's mother, Ira Barua, was the daughter of Jnanadabhiram Barua (Tagore's maternal grandfather), the founder Principal of Earl Law College (now Government Law College) in Guwahati and her maternal great-grandfather Gunabhiram Barua led the fight against the tradition of child marriage and worked for promotion of widow marriage and women education in Assam. Tagore's maternal grandmother Latika Tagore was the granddaughter of Rabindranath Tagore's brother, Dwijendranath Tagore.

Tagore's father Gitindranath Tagore, was then deputy general manager of the East India Company owner of Elgin Mills. Her father was the son of Kanakendranath Tagore. Her great grand father was the actor and artist Gaganendranath Tagore and great grand uncle the painter Abanindranath Tagore. One of Tagore's very early paternal ancestors was an uncle to the poet and Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

Tagore was the eldest child and had two sisters, late Oindrila Kunda [Tinku Tagore] and Romila Tagore [Chinky]. Tinku was an international bridge player and also acted in the role of Mini, the child star in Tapan Sinha's cinema Kabuliwala of 1957.

Tagore attended St. John's Diocesan Girls' Higher Secondary School and Loreto Convent, Asansol. Tagore did not continue her education and quit studies due to attendance requirements at the college.

Career :

Sharmila Tagore was one of the International Competition's Jury Member at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival

Tagore began her career as an actress in Satyajit Ray's 1959 Bengali film Apur Sansar (The World of Apu), as the ill-fated bride of the title character. She later appeared in Shakti Samanta's Kashmir Ki Kali in 1964. Samanta cast her in many more films, including An Evening in Paris (1967), in which she became the first Indian actress to appear in a bikini, which established Tagore as somewhat of a sex symbol in Hindi films. She also posed in a bikini for the glossy Filmfare magazine in 1968. But, when Tagore was the chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification, she expressed concerns about the increased use of bikinis in Indian films.

Samanta later teamed up Tagore with Rajesh Khanna for movies such as Aradhana (1969) and Amar Prem (1972). Other directors paired them together in Safar (1970), Daag (1973), and Maalik (1972). The pair of Khanna-Sharmila gave six box office hits – Aradhana, Safar, Amar Prem, Chhoti Bahu, Daag and Avishkaar. She starred in Gulzar's 1975 film, Mausam and won the National Film Award for Best Actress. She also played a supporting role in Mira Nair's 1991 film Mississippi Masala. She was the highest paid Bollywood actress from 1970 to 1976 along with Mumtaz. She starred opposite Sanjeev Kumar in Mausam (1975), Amitabh Bachchan in Faraar (1975) and Besharam (1978); and Naseeruddin Shah in the Bengali film Mangaldeep (1991).

Personal life :

Tagore with her daughter Soha at the premiere of Khoya Khoya Chand

She married Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, the Nawab of Pataudi and former captain of the Indian cricket team, in a Nikkah ceremony held on 27 December 1969. She converted to Islam and took on the name Ayesha Sultana. They had three children: Saif Ali Khan (b. 1970), Saba Ali Khan (b. 1976), a jewellery designer, and Soha Ali Khan (b. 1978), a Bollywood actress and TV personality. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi died, at age 70, on 22 September 2011. In November 2012 she wrote to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) asking for the upcoming series between India and England to be recognised as the Pataudi Trophy which was commissioned by the MCC in 2007. The Indian board responded saying that England's Test series in India are contested for the Anthony de Mello Trophy, in honour of the cricket administrator and co-founder of the BCCI.

Awards:

Civilian honors :

2013 – Padma Bhushan

National Film Awards (India)

• 1975 – National Film Award for Best Actress — Mausam
• 2003 – National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress — Abar Aranye

Filmfare Awards

• 1970 – Filmfare Award for Best Actress — Aradhana
• 1998 – Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award

Sharmila Tagore's Filmography with Super Star Rajesh Khanna :

Year - Film - Role

1. 1969 Aradhana ... Vandhana Tripathi
2. 1970 Safar ...
3. 1971 Chhoti Bahu K.B. Tilak … Radha
4. 1972 Amar Prem ... Pushpa
5. 1973 Raja Rani ... Nirmala / Rani
6. 1973 Daag … Sonia Kohli
7. 1974 Aavishkar … Mansi 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Sharmila Tagore on Super Star Rajesh Khanna :
   
   
   No actor had as crazy a fan following as Rajesh Khanna : Sharmila Tagore
   (Reuters)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Wed, 18 Jul 2012 - 09:56 pm, Kolkata, PTI
   
   
   She said wherever she went with him they found long queues of excited fans waiting to have a glimpse of him.
   
   
   Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore, who paired in a number of hits with Rajesh Khanna, said no other actor ever had a fan following like the superstar.
   
   
   "He was most certainly the first superstar and with due respect to other actors, nobody created that kind of a craze after him," Sharmila said.
   
   
   Recalling that she was a witness to that phase of his career when the actor's stardom was at its peak in the '70s, she said wherever she went with him they found long queues of excited fans waiting to have a glimpse of him.
   
   
   "I am very upset at the news of his death," she said.
   
   
   Khanna, she said, had an inherent enigma in him and his appeal went beyond age groups.
   
   
   "Elderly woman would want to mother him. Younger women wanted to fall in love with him. And the men also liked him because he had a lot of energy and style. He brought together people from nine-year-olds to ninety-year-olds," Sharmila said.
   
   
   After the 1969 hit film Aradhana, she recreated her chemistry with Khanna in films like Safar, Avishkaar and Amar Prem.
   
   
   "Most of my films with him have been hits. Aradhana was a very big hit while Avishkaar is a cult film. I have very positive memories of him. He was a wonderful actor, had a wonderful voice and came from a theatre background," Sharmila, herself a National Award winning actress, said.
   
   
   
   
   http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-no-actor-had-as-crazy-a-fan-following-as-rajesh-khanna-sharmila-tagore-1716746