"Questions were asked in Parliament": Sharmila Tagore on her famous bikini photoshoot
Dec 28, 2023
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 28 : Veteran actor Sharmila Tagore opened up about her "famous bikini shot" and said "questions were asked in the Parliament" in the latest episode of 'Koffee with Karan 8'.
Sharmila back in the 60s did a photoshoot for a magazine, which became the topic for discussion at that time.
Sharmila Tagore graced Karan Johar's show with her son Saif Ali Khan.
When Karan asked Sharmila, "Your famous bikini shot... You know the shot I am talking about. Nobody else wanted it to happen. Even the photographer had some anxiety issues about doing that."
Saif Ali Khan stated, "People in my boarding school used to ask me, is that your mum? I was very proud of it."
Sharmila Tagore added, "Yes, the photographer was slightly worried and I just thought I looked very nice. It really hurt me later because everybody interpreted it in such a way that I was upwardly mobile, I was trying to catch eyeballs. I didn't feel like that. When it came out in Filmfare, I was in London. I was unaware till Shakti (filmmaker Shakti Samanta) ji called me and said, will you come back quickly? There are terrible things happening here. He said, if you want to be in the public eye, this is not the way to go."
Sharmila Tagore mentioned that she sent a telegram to Tiger Pataudi. "I was very upset with all this... Completely opposite of what I thought would happen. So, I sent a telegram because those days you could send telegrams. So, I sent it to Tiger and he said, I am sure you are looking very nice. So that was my support."
Karan added, "In many ways, you perhaps experienced trolling first. A version of trolling of what happens on social media now."
Sharmila responded, "Totally, I can't tell you. I believe questions were asked in Parliament.
Shocked Karan asked, "About you wearing a bikini?
"It was not pleasant for me, but I learned. And after that, I was very careful and I chose Aradhana. It was the RRR of our time," Sharmila continued.
Sharmila Tagore started her acting career at 14 with Satyajit Ray's acclaimed Bengali drama 'The World of Apu'. She not only established herself in Bengali cinema but also became a prominent star of Bollywood.She worked in movies such as 'Kashmir Ki Kali', 'Safar', 'Amar Prem', 'Aradhana', 'Daag' and others. From legendary actor Dilip Kumar to Bollywood stars like Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Shammi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, and Sanjeev Kumar, she acted opposite all these big names in the industry.
She was recently seen in the family drama 'Gulmohar'.
