Sharmila Tagore asked driver to remove her bikini posters when mother-in-law visited, admits husband Tiger Pataudi was the ‘only supportive voice’

“I cannot say I was forced or asked to do it as it was entirely my decision. The photographer was not quite approving either. We did it spontaneously, which later created a huge uproar,” the actor said, adding that her director Shakti Samanta scolded her as he felt that people would not take her seriously if she is projected this way.

“Also, there were a lot of things into it. I wanted to grab eyeballs, I wanted to be commercially more viable. But I thought I looked nice,” the Aradhana actor said. She added that her husband Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was in London then and yet became her only support voice. As telegrams were the only source of communication, he wrote back saying that Sharmila must be looking nice and she need not worry.

The actor added that however, the incident went on to become a learning curve for her. “I realised that.. you cannot live in a world of your own. If you are a public figure, you must understand your audience, you must understand where you are. In front of the camera, you are emoting which is landing very well with the Indian audience, because these people accepted me. But this kind of radical thing will not go down well with the Indian audience. So why do it? Because you do not really want to shock people,” she said, adding that she then made a conscious decision to do films like Aradhana.

When Twinkle Khanna quizzed her about the posters suddenly disappearing from Mumbai, Sharmila Tagore laughed that not the whole city, but she did get her driver to remove them from around the area where she was living.

“Because my mother-in-law was visiting me. We (Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and her) were not married then, just engaged. There was this huge poster with Shammi Kapoor standing, and behind it, was me. My mid-riff is covered because of his body, so my bare legs and arms are outside. It was quite a titillating poster. At night, my driver and bearer went and took it out. But there must be many other posters on the way which Amma saw,” she shared with a laugh.

When Twinkle asked whether her mother-in-law asked her about it, the veteran actor chuckled, “She didn’t bother.”

Sharmila Tagore was last seen in Disney Plus Hotstar film, Gulmohar, which marked her come back to movies after 12 years. It also starred Manoj Bajpayee, Amol Palekar, Simran, and Kaveri Seth.