Happy Birthday Sharmila Tagore: Did you know these interesting facts?

Sharmila Tagore

Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore rings in her birthday today. Did you know these interesting facts about her?

Sharmila Tagore was the first actress in Bollywood to wear a swimsuit in the song 'Aasman Se Aaya Farishta' from 'An Evening In Paris. '

She had made her acting debut at the age of 14 with the acclaimed Bengali drama The World of Apu in 1959.

There were many who were wanting to see her alongwith her son Saif Ali Khan. All their wishes came true when the mother-son pair appeared on screen together in not just one, but two films! While the first film was ‘Ashiq Aawara' (which was released in 1993 and where Saif's co-star was Mamta Kulkarni) and the second film was ‘Eklavya: The Royal Guard', which was made by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Besides Saif Ali Khan, the film had an ensemble cast of sorts, which included the legendary Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Vidya Balan, Raima Sen, Jackie Shroff, Jimmy Sheirgill and Boman Irani in the lead roles.

Sharmila's maternal grandmother, Latika, was the granddaughter of Rabindranath Tagore's brother, Dwijendranath Tagore. Her Bengali film Devi was inspired by Rabindranath Tagore's writings.

Sharmila won National Film Award for Best Actress in 1975 for Gulzar's 'Mausam'. This was after a whole long 16 years after joining the industry!

The magic of Sharmila Tagore's acting prowess was not just confined to Bollywood alone. Sharmila Tagore had appeared in around 60 movies. Besides Hindi, she has also done films in Bengali, Marathi, and one in English.

If the reports are to be believed, then, its being said that Sharmila always terms herself as an ‘accidental actress'. This is because she never wanted to become an actor in the first place. Rather, she wanted to become a dancer!

Also Read: Sharmila Tagore: I was to receive the Lata Mangeshkar award from her hands this year