‘I AM NOT LOOKING TO WORK JUST FOR THE HECK OF IT’

Sharmila Tagore is open to exploring unique roles, not all that comes her way

Actor Sharmila Tagore is all set to face the camera after 11 years. But, she doesn’t believe in calling it her comeback, for she had never quit. “I’m not coming back anywhere,” she states. “At one point in life, I was an actor every day, going for shoots daily. Slowly, I petered down, and then, I wasn’t working for a very long time,” Tagore says, adding that she led a life away from the arclight, busy with her engagements in association with UNICEF as well as her trust.

Last seen in Break Ke Baad (2010), the 75-year-old will star in Gulmohar alongside Manoj Bajpayee, Amol Palekar and others. “I liked the script and they were going to shoot in Delhi, which was wonderful, because I live in Delhi. I was a little nervous about taking a commercial flight due to Covid, but I didn’t have to. It worked out convenient,” she tells us.

Going forward, will we get to see more of her on screen? “It depends on the script,” she continues, “Also, there are a lot of other things which I want to do in life. I want to travel, spend time with my grandchildren. I’ve got the responsibility of Pataudi palace... If I get a role that’s not stereotypical, I would be interested. But, I’m not looking to work just for the heck of it, because that part of me is over now.”

Besides her fans, her grandkids will also see her bring a character alive on screen after long. And this thought has got her a bit more excited. “I got a lovely message from Inaaya already, congratulating me, prompted by her mother of course. Taimur and Jeh aren’t allowed to watch films now, but I assume it will be different when they watch me on screen. Sara and Ibrahim will watch, and they better like it. They don’t have an option but to say, ‘Well done’!” she says with a hearty laugh.

Returning to a film set, she says, was like a perfect holiday. In fact, the Kashmir Ki Kali (1964) actor says she felt like a newcomer, bringing her own perception to the role.

“It was fun to work on a film with no pressure at all. It was something different from my life now. It was liberating, more like a wonderful holiday. That’s also because it is not my life anymore. My life right now is completely different. I’m not a working person anymore. I’m not going every day to work like everybody else, from one film to another,” she says, adding, “I worked in the film and now, I have gone back to my own life.”

I am not coming back anywhere. It is just that I worked on a film, which I thoroughly enjoyed. That’s it. I have my own life. SHARMILA TAGORE, Actor

PHOTO: RAAJESSH KASHYAP/HT