I would have loved to do a film like 'Piku' or 'Neerja.' But I never got a role where a woman played an authoritative role. In my time, the hero and the villain were both men. The heroine was only the victim.
— Sharmila Tagore
On the sets, I am just an actress, and I am okay with whoever I am working with.
I follow my heart and I do what I want to.
I wanted to be a painter.
Change is the only constant in this unsteady world.
I live by my own values and if I'm appreciated for the qualities I value, that is enough for me.
You should lead your own life, do what you have to. If people recognize you, it gives you support. If they don't, how does it matter?
What is my truth can not be your truth.
I studied music at Dakhhini.
To me, Satyajit Ray is just Manik da. Our relationship dates back to 1958, when he introduced me to the silver screen. I was just 13.
We are a layered society, so what may be taken easily by an urban audience may not go down well with those watching the same film in suburban areas.
I dropped out of college before graduation. I opted to begin work as an actress.
I had loved Tiger for 47 years, was married to him for almost 43. We didn't make it to 50. But it was a memorable partnership; certainly, an enriching one for me.
I want to highlight this, that to make meaningful cinema, we really need an enabling environment and freedom to express.
In 1963, when I joined Hindi film industry it raised many eyebrows.
Society is patriarchal, so film industry by definition is certainly patriarchal. The male gaze dominated.
If I played a vamp I would be rejected by the audience outright.
There is a mindset that has to be changed - the sense of entitlement of the man. That happens when you are bringing up someone. If you are going to differentiate between a boy and a girl from age zero, then he is bound to grow up with the sense of entitlement.
I don't enjoy going to a very big wedding or a party or a huge gathering where there are lots of people. I enjoy small groups.
I don't have any problem in working.
I wanted to change my image. That's why I did 'Aradhana.'
To be awarded with an honour of the stature of a Padma Bhushan, which is deemed as one of the three highest civilian awards in our country, is just gratifying.
I'm an actor by choice and I love facing the camera. There's a little bit of exhibitionism in all of us. We like the limelight.
I was brought up in a Bengali family. We were three girls and never made to feel any lesser than men.
Some may want to be a homemaker and some want to follow other careers and they should be allowed. If we want to be different we should be different and we should be allowed to be different.
A Tagore surname signifies an association with aesthetics and all the best things of life. It's enriching both personally and professionally.
The craze for the 'taant er sari,' terracotta pottery or Bengal jewellery will never wane because Bengal portrays unparalleled diversity.
If you seek learning, it meets you somewhere down the road.
To be a real man, I think you have to be supportive of each other and to be a real woman you have to be supportive of your man, and the man has to do the same thing, only then he would be a real man.
When a film is released, anywhere in the country, exactly in the same place people laugh, cry, get bored, what is that, but commonality.
You can't be a passive recipient of images, you have to engage with images and read their subtexts. These are critical things that will be taught to the students by a film club.
We used to do four or five films at a time and were not able to experiment with too many things. But, the heart was in the right place and everybody worked passionately. We had wonderful directors like Bimal Roy, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Raj Kapoor.
Except for the pollution, I love everything about Delhi.
The only time I used to regret being a woman was when I had to use the toilets on sets when I would be shooting.
I don't think that cinema is bigger than family as an institution.
Sometimes I do everything and then there are times when I don't want to do anything at all.Most importantly , I don't do anything that I don't want to do.
I still vividly remember when I was working in 'Kashmir Ki Kali,' I had no idea about lip-syncing the song 'Diwana Hua Badal' sung by Asha Bhosle and the scene was to be shot in the Dal Lake in Kashmir.
One cannot afford to be nostalgic about the past and cling onto it.
I believe in an artiste's life, there are two kinds of awards - first is the appreciation and good wishes he or she gets for his work from the audience and secondly, the recognition in the form of awards.
The best encouragement is when your films run and people who watch it say 'Well done.'
Parents should be told that if they invest in the education and upbringing of a girl child, she will also make contributions for the family and society.
There should be no hindrance to what we want to do, what we want to wear, what we think and how we want to travel. Do what you want to do as long as you are not breaking any law.
It's been a great advantage and a privilege to have the Tagore surname. Wherever you go, you are recognised.
Bengal's indigenous art and craft is widely popular throughout the world.
The fact that I am getting a doctorate in spite of being a college drop-out proves that the world can be your university.
There was a time in my life when I used the word 'crap' regularly and unthinkingly.
When I came to Bombay, as it was called in my time, it was filled with people from everywhere, Kashmir to Kerala.
Film Club is a necessity in any big university, as it provides a platform and a forum where you can exchange ideas, critique and appreciate historical, classics and contemporary films.
Thanks to multiplexes there are lots of experiments going on and we have some great directors like Sujoy, Shoojit, Dibakar.
Even in real life, at least I have that very strong sense of timing to do things when they are meant to be done. Like when to stop colouring your hair, when to do whatever, and to live by it too.
