Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore discussed the challenge of juggling her presence in arthouse cinema with her rising Bollywood career in the 1970s. She shared that she had to make a big ‘compromise’ to manage various projects, a decision so serious that she could have faced legal consequences if it occurred in today’s context.
During an interview posted on the Quorum YouTube channel, she revealed that she was approached by Satyajit Ray for the film “Aranyer Din Ratri” after she had already committed to “Aradhana,” directed by her mentor in Hindi films, Shakti Samanta. “Aradhana” also starred the era’s leading star, Rajesh Khanna. She explained that securing Khanna’s availability was nearly impossible back then because he had simultaneously signed contracts with 12 different producers.
She said, “When I was working in Aradhana – it was taking a couple of years to be made – Manik da called me and offered me the role in Aranyer Din Ratri. It required one month at a stretch, and that was clashing with ‘Sapno Ki Rani’ being shot in Darjeeling. Rajesh Khanna’s dates were impossible to get, because he was working with 12 producers who had introduced him.” Sharmila said, adding that she informed Shakti Samanta about her decision to accept Ray’s offer, causing the filmmaker to be distressed.
She went on to say that the scenes featuring Rajesh Khanna and Sujit Kumar were filmed in Darjeeling, whereas Sharmila’s scenes were shot in the studios, using rear projection. “That was a huge compromise, and I think I would have been sued in today’s time. But because Aradhana became such a huge success, everything was forgiven, and I was repeated in his (Samanta’s) later films.”
Sharmila Tagore began her acting career as a teenager in Satyajit Ray’s films and later became one of the leading female stars of the 1970s. Her latest appearance was in the Disney+ Hotstar family drama Gulmohar, where she shared the screen with Manoj Bajpayee.
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