We don’t wait for the hero to arrive on the set anymore: Sharmila Tagore

A challenging role ahead
I’m very fond of Rituparna. I watched her in Mondo Meyer Upakhyan and was impressed by her performance. When she approached me with the script of Puratawn, I knew I had to do it. I’ve seen Suman’s (Ghosh’s) work. He’s a sensitive director. Over 60 years, I’ve done good, bad, indifferent and glamorous roles. If I can pull off this challenging role, it will be one of my better ones.

Can’t believe I’ll be working with Sharmila Tagore, my idol! She had once hinted that she’d be interested in a Bengali film again, if the script was good. That’s how Suman and I developed this story – Rituparna Sengupta

Thanks to more women on the sets, the energy is very high- Sharmila Tagore

Juggling Aradhana & Aranyer Din Ratri
I cannot really explain how I managed to balance my work with Satyajit Ray and my Hindi films. I went with my directors’ instructions, be it Hindi or Bangla. During Aradhana, we were shooting for ‘Sapno Ki Rani’ in Darjeeling, and Manik da (Satyajit Ray) called me to say he needed my dates for a month. I told Shakti ji (Samanta) that I was going and he didn’t know what to do! Saying no to Manik da was impossible, so he had to let me go. When Aradhana became a hit, I guess Shakti ji’s anger subsided, even though I had to leave the set for a month!

Manik da was always supportive of my Bollywood career. Most Bengalis were disapproved of my move to Mumbai, but he simply smiled at all the criticism.

My husband (Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi) knew only one Bengali phrase: ‘Tumi jodi ponero minute ready na hoteh paro, ami chole jabo!’ (If you can’t get ready in 15 minutes, I will leave). When I get annoyed with my children I feel like telling them, ‘Poramukho!’ (laughs)

I can’t eat street food like ghugni, phuchka like I used to. Now I eat very boring food!

When I got into acting, my teachers said I would be a bad influence on other students, so I had to switch to another convent school. But I learned Sanskrit and Bengali. Bangaliana comes naturally to me

No more waiting for hero ki entry!
The entertainment industry is a better and far more professional space now. People are on time, there is a proper script and
costumes, a break after every five days. It’s a very comfortable environment for us seniors especially, to work in. Earlier, we had to wait for hours for the hero to arrive on the set. Now everyone comes on time and most importantly, people come to the floor only after having read the script and well prepared. Besides, thanks to improved sync-sound, we hardly need to dub. On an OTT set, that’s teeming with bright young women, the energy is infectiously high and positive. While these days we get our scripts written in the Roman script, I still prefer to read a Bengali script in Bangla, Hindi script in Hindi and an English script in English. English is a language of power and is important, but a script should be written in the language it is meant to be spoken.

Kolkata has not changed much. While the potholes are the same, I do see some of the beautiful old buildings being replaced by modern structures that remind you of Delhi