If not in the field of cinema veteran actress Sharmila Tagore would have turned painter.
“I wanted to go to Shantiniketan. I wanted to be a painter,” she said, speaking at an interactive session organised by the Young FICCI Ladies Organisation with her and her daughter, Bollywood actress Soha Ali Khan.
The 70-year-old actress, who began her career with Satyajit Ray’s film Apur Sansar in 1959 at the age of 14, said acting was a wonderful profession that let actors be close to the people.
Recalling her career, Tagore said she took on roles such as Rajesh Khanna’s mother as she wanted to play parts that would be remembered for a long time.
“I wanted to change my image. That’s why I did Aradhana. If you get into [the audience’s] hearts, you live longer,” she added.
Talking about her late husband, former Indian Cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, she said he taught her punctuality and composure.
Asked if she would have liked to be an actor today rather than in the 1960s and 1970s, Tagore said: “We had our time. No regrets.”
Replying to a query, Khan said she and her siblings, including Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, had a “quite normal, non-starry” upbringing which kept them level-headed.
