A throwback of Sharmila Tagore's shoot. (courtesy: bombaybasanti)
Hindi film veteran Sharmila Tagore was at her unfiltered best on Karan Johar's chat show Koffee With Karan 8. The veteran actress attended the show with her son Saif Ali Khan. At the beginning of the show, Karan Johar spoke about her "famous bikini shot" - a photoshoot she did for a magazine back in the 60s. She also made headlines for the swimsuit she wore in the film An Evening In Paris. "Your famous bikini shot... You know the shot I am talking about. Nobody else wanted it to happen. Even the photographer had some anxiety issues about doing that," Karan Johar said.
Sharmila Tagore replied, "Yes I do." Saif Ali Khan added, "People in my boarding school used to ask me, is that your mum? I was very proud of it." Sharmila Tagore added, "Yes, the photographer was slightly worried and I just thought I looked very nice. It really hurt me later because everybody interpreted it in such a way that I was upwardly mobile, I was trying to catch eyeballs. I didn't feel like that. When it came out in Filmfare, I was in London and I was unaware till Shakti (Samanta) ji called me and said, will you come back quickly? There are terrible things happening here. He said if you want to be in the public eye, this is not the way to go."
Sharmila Tagore mentioned that she sent a telegram to Tiger Pataudi. "I was very upset with all this... Completely opposite of what I thought would happen so, I sent a telegram because those days you could send telegrams. So, I sent it to Tiger and he said, I am sure you are looking very nice. So that was my support."
"In many ways, you perhaps experienced trolling also first. A version of trolling, of what happens on social media now," joked Karan Johar. "Totally, I can't tell you...I believe questions were asked in the Parliament. It was not pleasant for me and learning I did. And after that, I was very careful and I chose Aradhana. It was RRR of our time," Sharmila Tagore added.