Simi Garewal's most erotic roles

Simi Garewal was born in Ludhiana, Punjab, India, in a Jatt Sikh family. Her father, J S Garewal served in the Indian Army rising to the rank of brigadier. Simi grew up in England and studied at Newland House School with her sister Amrita. After spending much of her childhood in England, Garewal returned to India while a teenager. Her felicity with the English language induced the makers of the English-language film Tarzan Goes to India to offer her a role. A gangly 15-year-old, Garewal made her debut alongside Feroz Khan in this film in 1962. She was much ahead of her times. She was not the conventional Indian woman, her education and her England years had a huge influence in shaping the lady that she is. Even though she was not an extremely celebrated actress but the films that she did left an idelible mark on the history of Indian Cinema. She has worked with the top directors of her time from Satyajit Ray to Raj Kapoor to Mrinal Sen.


Let us have a look at some of her roles which none of the other actresses of her time would have dared to do...

Simi Garewal - Aranyer Din Ratri

This cult Bengali classic is directed by the first ever Indian Oscar Winning filmmaker, Satyajit Ray. It boasted of an ensemble cast but the role that the gorgeous Simi portrayed was that of a tribal black Santhal girl who serves as a sex toy for the young testosterone prodded handsome guy played by Samit Bhanja who wants some excitement on their forest escapade. The characters of Samit Bhanja and Simi Garewal have implied sex in the film. Veteran cinematographer, Nemai Ghosh, who was also an associate of the maestro, Satyajit Ray described the sequence as 'explicit'. This indeed was the first time that a couple -- an unmarried one -- had sex on the Indian screen. During an interview with Mumbai Mirror, Simi had revealed that this was the same time that she was shooting for Raj Kapoor's Mera Naam Joker. Describing her transformation for the role, she said, "I relished my transformation. It took four hours to cover me with the black paint (even in my ears!) and it took three hours to remove it later! And in in-between, I became another being - rustic, uninhibited, untutored and raw."

Simi Garewal – Mera Naam Joker

This Raj Kapoor magnum opus was amongst the first film of its kind. The first part of the film delved deep into the searing love that a student, Raju (Rishi Kapoor) shared with his teacher, played by Simi Garewal. The innocent blue-eyed 15-year old boy falls for his beautiful Anglo-Indian teacher, who has been guarding him, helping him and teaching him to live life in a beautiful manner. Simi Garewal portrayed the role of Mary, the young and beautiful object of passion in an all-boys school. No one can forget the scene where, while instructing the boys to come out of the pool, she falls into it accidentally. The young boy Raju's raging hormones lead him to follow her into the bushes. It is one of the iconic scenes to have been filmed in Indian film history and no other filmmaker could have pulled it off the way the one and only showman Mr Raj Kapoor did.

Simi Garewal - Siddhartha

The film released in the year 1972. It was based on the novel by the same name by Hermann Hesse and was directed by Conrad Rooks. The story is about a young Indian who embarks upon a journey to find the meaning of existence. Playing the role of a courtesan, Simi didn’t hesitate to shoot for semi-nude as well as intimate scenes with Shashi. The Censor Board was aghast at the adult content and released the film with cuts. Considering the film was made at a time when even on-screen kissing was considered taboo in India, Simi’s performances made her a subject of much discussion. The entertainment magazines back then had a field day with Simi’s bare-all act. Pages were dedicated to her bold attitude and a popular magazine also leaked images of a topless Simi with Shashi Kapoor before the movie was released. Simi sued the magazine. Years later, she admitted in an interview that she had overreacted by suing the magazine as it did them more good than harm. “It just gave them a lot of unnecessary prominence,” she said.

Simi Garewal - Tarzan Goes to India

She did the film when she was barely 15. The film was the first film featuring Jock Mahoney as Tarzan. It was written by Robert Hardy Andrews and directed by John Guillermin who also directed Tarzan's Greatest Adventure. It was one of two Mahoney films that took Tarzan out of Africa and sent him to the Far East. It was a co-production between Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States. She was seen canoodling with Tarzan in the film.