Sharmila Tagore‘s career continues to shine brilliantly, with the perfect balance of strategic pauses that keep audiences eagerly anticipating her return to the big screen. Over her 65 years in the industry, her achievements are monumental, especially with a filmography that includes iconic films such as Satyajit Ray’s ‘Apur Sansar’, ‘Devi’, and ‘Nayak’, Tapan Sinha’s ‘Nirjan Saikate’, Shakti Samanta’s ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’ and ‘An Evening in Paris’, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s ‘Anupama’ and ‘Satyakam’, Yash Chopra’s ‘Daag’, Gulzar’s ‘Mausam’, Mira Nair’s ‘Mississippi Masala’, Rituparno Ghosh’s ‘Shubho Mahurat’, Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s ‘Eklavya’, and Amol Palekar’s ‘Samaantar’.
Speaking with The Indian Express, veteran actress Sharmila Tagore talked about her successful career and her upcoming film, ‘Outhouse’. The movie, which marks her return to the big screen after 14 years, is a touching story about human relationships and the bond between people and animals. She also shared her thoughts on how much the filmmaking process has changed over the years.
Sharmila Tagore expressed concern about the growing trend in big-budget films where actors charge large fees and travel with large entourages, including cooks and masseuses. She shared an incident from an ad shoot where a makeup artist mentioned that some actors now compete over the size of their vanity vans to show off their status. While she acknowledged the rise of diverse content through OTT platforms, she found this new trend in the industry troubling.
She further candidly expressed that the growing gap between reel and reality in the industry is sad, “Vanity vans were all about privacy, and a comfortable place to dress up. Now, you have meeting rooms, resting rooms, etc… All of this is pushing actors away from what actually matters… the acting, Of course, making money is important, but if you are moving away from reality, how would you know what works and doesn’t with the audience.”
With her remarkable 65-year career and numerous awards, expressed concern over the lack of camaraderie among today’s stars. “When I won an award for Aradhana, Nargis ji and Waheeda Rahman ji were there in the audience. Kishore Kumar sang on the stage. It was a celebration of the film fraternity, and not just a celebration of Sharmila Tagore. But now, in many award shows, some turn up very late, and a new row is added to the first row to accommodate the A-listers, and more importantly, no one talks to anyone. Everybody waits for a photo-op and leaves, and many don’t even turn up if they are not getting an award. Things have changed a lot, but I don’t think for the better.”
The film ‘Outhouse’ is directed by Sunil Sukthankar and starring Sharmila Tagore alongside Mohan Agashe, marks her return to the big screen 14 years after Break Ke Baad with Imran Khan and Deepika Padukone. The film also features Sonali Kulkarni and Neeraj Kabi.
Did you know Sharmila Tagore once shared that people predicted that her marriage wouldn’t last a year due to this reason?
