Sharmila Tagore jokes that her ‘nikaahnama’ banned all cricket-related discussions in her marriage with Tiger Pataudi

Also read – Sharmila Tagore recalls gifting Mercedes worth Rs 1 lakh to husband Tiger Pataudi, shares his ‘calm’ reaction to her bikini photoshoot 

Citing the example of the IPL, Sibal made a point about opening up funding and discovering fresh talent, which eventually empowered young cricketers to replace the old guard. He said that a similar transformation hasn’t been observed in the world of cinema, which is still ruled by stars from a generation ago. Sharmila said, “The word creative itself is a very problematic word. Satyajit Ray taught me you don’t need an extraordinary budget to make a great film. You need extraordinary imagination, extraordinary talent, and extraordinary comprehension of what cinema is all about. All We Imagine as Light is not an expensive film, but it won at Cannes, and I’m sure people will watch it in droves when it is released here.”

Sharmila was married to the legendary cricket Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, but has admitted in the past that while she enjoyed watching cricket, she wasn’t invested in the lives of cricketers. “We met at a cricket party in Kolkata and then we exchanged telephone numbers,” she recalled in an episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati, recalling the elaborate prank that Tiger Pataudi played on her to ask her out. It involved getting a call about supposedly illegal air conditioners. “I called that number and Tiger answered, and he was laughing. It was a joke, that kind of joke. That’s how it happened. He said, ‘Can we go out for coffee?’ I said, ‘Yeah, we’ll go out for coffee.’ That was that. We never stopped,” she said.