Sharmila Tagore: Biography of Ray's Actress and Hindi Star

Born into the Tagore family

Sharmila Tagore was born on 8 Dec 1944 in Kanpur (then Cawnpore), where her father, Gitindranath Tagore, was a general manager with the British India Corporation. Her mother, Ira, came from the Barua family of Assam. Both sides of the family were connected to the Tagores of Calcutta: her father was a great-grandson of the painter Gaganendranath Tagore, and through her mother's side she's related to the poet Rabindranath Tagore, whose brother Dwijendranath was her great-great-grandfather.

She was the eldest of three sisters. The middle sister, Oindrila, acted as a child in Kabuliwala (1957) and later became an international bridge player; the youngest is Romila Sen. Sharmila studied at St. John's Diocesan Girls' School in Calcutta and Loreto Convent, Asansol, but film work started so early that school fell away. Her father told her to commit to acting and "give it her all".

Satyajit Ray and Bengali cinema

She was 13 when Satyajit Ray cast her as Aparna, the young bride, in Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959). Ray cast her again as the girl worshipped as a goddess in Devi (1960), which she has called her favourite film. She worked with him on Nayak (1966), opposite Uttam Kumar, Aranyer Din Ratri (1970) and Seemabaddha (1971).

Those films gave her a reputation that most Hindi film stars of her generation never had. When Wes Anderson introduced a restored Aranyer Din Ratri at Cannes in 2025, he called her performance "mysterious, cerebral, mesmerising".

Kashmir Ki Kali and Hindi stardom

Her Hindi debut came with Shakti Samanta's Kashmir Ki Kali (1964), opposite Shammi Kapoor. It was a hit and led to Waqt (1965), Anupama (1966), Devar (1966) and Mere Hamdam Mere Dost (1968). Anupama, Hrishikesh Mukherjee's quiet drama in which she played a withdrawn young woman, is usually seen as her breakthrough as an actress in Hindi films.

In Samanta's An Evening in Paris (1967) she wore a one-piece swimsuit, a first for a Hindi film heroine. A bikini cover she shot for Filmfare caused an even bigger row; she later said questions were asked in Parliament. Her answer was to play a wife and mother in her next big film.

Aradhana and the Rajesh Khanna years

That film was Aradhana (1969), again for Samanta, in which she played a woman who loses her husband and has to give up her son. It made Rajesh Khanna a superstar, gave Kishore Kumar some of his best-known songs, and won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.

She and Khanna became one of the defining pairs of the period, in Safar (1970), Amar Prem (1972), Daag (1973) and Avishkaar (1974). She also made Satyakam (1969) and the comedy Chupke Chupke (1975) with Dharmendra, and Faraar (1975) with Amitabh Bachchan. Through much of the 1970s she was reported to be the highest-paid actress in Hindi films.

Mausam and a National Award

In Gulzar's Mausam (1975) she played two roles: a mountain girl who waits for a man who never returns, and her daughter, a foul-mouthed sex worker. It won her the National Film Award for Best Actress. In the late 1970s and 1980s she kept working in Hindi and Bengali films, including Amanush (1975), Namkeen (1982), New Delhi Times (1986) and Sunny (1984), which reunited her with Dharmendra and starred his son Sunny Deol in the title role. She also appeared in Mira Nair's Mississippi Masala (1991).

Marriage to Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi

On 27 Dec 1968 she married Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, known as Tiger, the captain of the Indian cricket team and titular Nawab of Pataudi. She converted to Islam and took the name Begum Ayesha Sultana, though she kept working as Sharmila Tagore. The marriage drew controversy, and the couple reportedly received threats.

They had three children: the actor Saif Ali Khan, born in 1970; Saba Ali Khan, a jewellery designer, born in 1976; and the actress Soha Ali Khan, born in 1978. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi died on 22 Sep 2011, aged 70.

Why her conversion is in the news

Update, 11 Nov 2026: Sharmila Tagore's name returned to Google Trends this week after Saba Ali Khan spoke about her parents' marriage in an interview with Siddharth Kannan. Saba said the conversion was "a necessity" at the time, that it made the marriage and the children legally recognised, and that her paternal grandmother "would surely not have allowed it in any other way". She added that the family never asked Sharmila to change her name on her passport or give up acting, and that the children grew up celebrating Holi, Diwali and Eid. The Indian Express and the Times of India reported the comments on 9 and 10 Nov 2026.

Censor board chief and other roles

From October 2004 to March 2011 she chaired the Central Board of Film Certification, India's film censor board. In December 2005 she became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and in 2009 she sat on the main competition jury at the Cannes Film Festival. She has also acted on television, in Katha Sagar (1986) and Zindagi (1999).

Later films and the Gulmohar comeback

Her film work slowed after the 1990s but didn't stop. She played her son's mother in Eklavya: The Royal Guard (2007), worked with Amitabh Bachchan again in Viruddh (2005), and played Deepika Padukone's mother in Break Ke Baad (2010). Goutam Ghose's Bengali film Abar Aranye (2003) won her a second National Award, for Best Supporting Actress.

After a 13-year gap she returned in Rahul V. Chittella's Gulmohar (2023), a family drama that went straight to streaming, and won the Filmfare OTT Award (Critics) for Best Actress in a web original film. Outhouse, with Mohan Agashe, followed in 2024, and Suman Ghosh's Bengali film Puratawn (2025) marked her return to Bengali cinema after 14 years; she has called it one of her best films.

In 2026 she had a cameo in Vibe, the spy comedy written and directed by her son-in-law Kunal Kemmu, released on 18 September. It was her first big-screen Hindi appearance since Break Ke Baad and the first time a family member had directed her.

Health

In 2025 Soha Ali Khan said publicly that her mother's lung cancer had been detected at stage zero and removed by surgery, so no chemotherapy was needed. Sharmila has continued to work and travel since.

Awards and honours

Sharmila Tagore received the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honour, in 2013. She has two National Film Awards (Best Actress for Mausam and Best Supporting Actress for Abar Aranye) and the Filmfare Best Actress award for Aradhana. In March 2026 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the opening of the first International Film Festival of Delhi, where she said age brings "so much freedom" because "you don't have to really look pretty". She's also on the Bollywood Walk of Fame in Bandra.

Family today

Saif Ali Khan's children are Sara and Ibrahim, from his marriage to Amrita Singh, and Taimur and Jeh, with Kareena Kapoor. Soha is married to Kunal Kemmu and has a daughter, Inaaya. Sara and Ibrahim now act too, making them the third generation of the family in films.

Legacy

Sharmila Tagore moved between two very different cinemas at a time when few actors did. In Calcutta she was Ray's actress; in Bombay she was a box-office star. Critics often single out the dignity of her screen presence, and the women she played, from Aparna to the mother in Aradhana to the sex worker in Mausam, were rarely just there to decorate the hero's story. Six decades after her debut she's still choosing roles, and still being written about.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. The Indian Express: Saba Ali Khan on Sharmila Tagore's conversion, 9 Nov 2026
2. The Times of India: Saba Pataudi on her parents' marriage, 10 Nov 2026
3. The Times of India / ANI: Lifetime Achievement Award at IFFD 2026, 26 Mar 2026
4. The Indian Express: Sharmila Tagore's cameo in Kunal Kemmu's Vibe, 1 Sep 2026
5. The Hindu: Lung cancer detected at stage zero, says Soha Ali Khan
6. Wikipedia: Sharmila Tagore (cross-checked filmography, family and awards)

Facts checked against the sources above by Tulasiram Pemmadi on 11 Nov 2026 (IST). Where reliable sources disagree, the article says so. Spotted an error? See our corrections page or email contact@nextplayintel.com.

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