Last night we went to a delightful programme at the Nehru Centre in London. When I read the programme I didn’t know what to expect. It said “Conversation with Sharmila Tagore”. I made up my mind to go because I have always thought of her as one of the most beautiful women in Indian cinema. The pleasant surprise when the programme started was that not only is she still very beautiful but also that she was very articulate.An hour or so later when we came down from the auditorium I had changed many of my ideas about several subjects – Indian cinema, cinema actresses but mostly about her as a person. Fortunately, the questions which she was being asked in this live interview were coming from an eminently qualified person as Nasreen Munni Kabir. Fortunately too Sharmila gave a lot of importance to the experience she had with a director like Satyajit Ray considering that the audience was mainly made up of elderly people who were educated and cultured.
The one shining quality about this conversation with her was her frankness. She admitted that she was not aware that she had done anything extraordinary while taking some of the very bold steps for which she is famous. She married a Muslim Nawab although she herself comes from a Hindu Bengali family related to Abanindranath Tagore, chose a profession which was looked down upon by the educated class, continued to work in films even after she was married and had children. Not only did her celebrity marriage survive but she has brought up three children who are intelligent and independent.
I was quite surprised that so much wisdom came from a woman who had spent a life-time acting in films where brains have to be switched off. When asked to speak about her philosophy of life she pointed out that the secret of a happy life lies in having a clear goal in life and knowing what one wants. “But,” she continued “one must not start expecting from the life one has chosen the things that are not in it.” For example if one has married for money one should not cry because one did not get love, or if one has chosen to act in a film because there is a role which would give a deep emotional satisfaction then one should not complain that one did not earn any money from it. What an accurate observation of life and what a valuable advice.
It was very kind of her to have accepted to answer all the questions that people in the audience wanted to ask. What was the secret of her youthful looks? “I exercise and eat the right things,” was her answer. Thank you, Sharmila, for that lovely evening in London.
