Sharmila Tagore Biography

Sharmila Tagore is a renouned actress of the Indian film industry. From April 2005 onwards, she has taken up as the head of the Indian Film Censor Board. The same year in the month of December, she served as the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Trace her journey here below as you go through the thick and thin of her life in this biographical account.




She was born on the December 8, 1946 in Hyderabad. She is a relative of the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. She wanted to marry a Muslim man Mansoor Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi. For marrying him, she got her religion converted to Islam. She even changed her name to Ayesha Sultana. In the year 1968, she got married. They have three children, namely Saif Ali Khan, Soha Ali Khan and Saba Ali Khan.


Her film career started in the year 1959. She got her first break by playing the lead role in Satyajit Ray film Apur Sansar (The World of Apu). She was just fourteen years old, when she worked in her maiden film. Acting was never a difficult task for this multi-talented actress. Her first film Kashmir ki kali in 1964 opposite Shammi Kapoor, by the famous director Shakti Samantha launched her as the hottest and most glamorous actress of her times. Thereafter, she was
starred in many films and won many awards.

She was also a style setter. Her butterfly knot blouse, her style of making up, long eyelashes, her curvy dresses all became a fashion statement. In the mean time she also appeared on the cover of a magazine in two piece bikini which became the talk of the town."Looking back, I realize I was very different from the other actresses of my time.

Her roles opposite Rajesh khanna became the best-known duo in the industry.

She was recently seen in character roles in Mann, Dhadkan, Eklavya and Morning Walk.The most noted and worthwhile films of Sharmila Tagore are Apur Sansar (The World of Apu), Waqt, Nayak, An Evening in Paris, Yakeen, Amar Prem, Aradhana, Mausam, Desh Premee, Charitrheen and Chupke Chupke.

Awards Won
Filmfare Best Actress Award in 1969 National Film Award for Best Actress in 1976 Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997 Star Screen Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003

Biography Mumtaz - The Big Chase

Mumtaz was born on July 31, 1947 in Bombay, India. She is a renouned veteran bollywood actress. Mumtaz originally of Iranian origin was born to Abdul Saleem Askari and Sardar Shadi Habib Agha. She entered Bollywood at the tender age of twelve.

She started as an extra in films in the early 1960's. She accepted small roles in big films like Mujhe Jeene Do and big roles in small budgeted stunt films like Boxer, Samson, Tarzan, and King Kong. In the 1960s, she starred in as many as 16 action films with freestyle wrestler Dara Singh and was tagged and streotyped as a stunt film heroine.

She first gained attention in a supporting role as a vamp in the A grade color hit film Mere Sanam (1965). Finally, she gained major attention when she played one of Dilip Kumar's leading ladies in Ram Aur Shyam (1967). The film became one of the top hits of the year, and
she received her first Filmfare nomination as Best Supporting Actress. Suddenly, Mumtaz was flooded with offers, but still not for major leading lady roles. She supported Sharmila Tagore in several films in the late 1960s, such as for Saawan Ki Ghata, Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi, and Mere Humdum Mere Dost. She had a memorable song and dance number ("Aaj kal tere

mere") with her then-boyfriend Shammi Kapoor in the hit
film Brahmachari (1968).

It took Raj Khosla's blockbuster Do Raaste (1969) starring the phenomenon Rajesh Khanna to finally make Mumtaz a full-fledged star. Earlier, Shashi Kapoor had refused to work with her because she was a "stunt film heroine" in Saccha Jootha, now wanted her to be his heroine in Chor Machaye Shor.

Mumtaz had no problems acting sexy and due to her great looks, easily had several more hit films. She acted in over a hundred films in a career that spanned just 12 years. She won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for one of her favorite films Khilona in 1970. Mumtaz starred in
many movies with Feroz Khan and her other popular pairing have been with Jeetendra and Rajesh Khanna. She has also acted with Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar and other top heroes of her era. She was proud of her work in her other favorite films Tere Mere Sapne for director Vijay
Anand, as well as Roop Tera Mastana, Aap Ki Kasam, and Aaina.

She quit acting after her appearance in Aaina (1977) for marriage to a millionaire and only returned for one final film appearance 12 years later in the 1989 film Aandhiyan, which flopped and she turned down other film offers. In 1996, she received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.

In June 2008, she was honored for her "Achievement in Indian Cinema" by the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) in Bangkok.


Mumtaz married millionaire Mayur Madhvani on May 29, 1974. They have two daughters Natasha and Tanya. Natasha, the elder daughter, married actor Fardeen Khan, son of Feroz Khan, in a lavish ceremony, in December 2005. Mumtaz had acknowledged that she has successfully battled cancer and that she and her husband have overcome personal problems in their marriage.

The Living Legend-Asha Parekh

Asha Parekh was born into a middle-class Gujarati household on October 2, 1942 in Mahuva, Bhavnagar district, Gujarat. Since Asha Parekh was an only child, she became the centre of her parents' lives. Her mother enrolled her in Indian classical dance classes at an early age and Asha excelled at dancing to the point where she performed at stage shows and private functions.

Asha Parekh started her career as a child artiste under the screen name Baby Asha Parekh in the film Aasmaan (1952). Famed film director Bimal Roy saw her dance at a stage function and cast her at the tender age of twelve in Baap Beti (1954). The film's failure disappointed her and even though she did a couple more child roles, she quit to resume her schooling. Asha Parekh was one of the top stars in Hindi films from 1959 to 1973 and is said to have starred in more hit films than any other actress.

At the age of 16 Asha Parekh decided to try acting again and make her debut as a heroine, but Asha was rejected from Vijay Bhatt's Goonj Uthi Shehnai (1959) in favor of actress Ameeta, because the filmmaker claimed she was not star material. The very next day, film producer Subodh Mukherjee and writer-director Nasir Hussain cast her as the heroine in Dil Deke Dekho (1959) opposite Shammi Kapoor which made her a huge star.
Asha stopped acting in 1995 to pursue directing and producing television serials, but her acting accomplishments were not forgotten as she received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

Asha Parekh has continued to receive other Lifetime Achievement Awards: Kalakar Award in 2004; International Indian Film Academy Awards in 2006; Pune International Film Festival Award (2007); Ninth Annual Bollywood Award (2007) in Long Island, New York. Asha received the Living Legend Award from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry(FICCI).