Sharmila Tagore gets Padma Bhushan

Jan 25, 2013 IANS

New Delhi, Jan 25 (IANS) Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore has been named for the Padma Bhushan on the eve of 64th Republic Day.

The great-grand niece of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, Sharmila's tryst with movies began when she had just entered her teens. She was 13 when she did her first Bengali film "Apur Sansar" in 1959.

However, the bigger recognition came her way when she entered the Hindi film industry with "Kashmir Ki Kali" and after that there was no looking back for her.

The 68-year-old's body of work boasts of successes like "An Evening In Paris", "Aradhana", "Amar Prem", "Mausam" and "Chupke Chupke". She is said to be one of the foremost Bollywood ladies who flaunted a bikini on screen in "An Evening In Paris".

Be it in glamorous roles or serious character-driven parts - Sharmila made it big in all spheres.

Her open-mindedness to roles and stories also translated to the changed content in Bollywood when she took over the reins as the censor board chief in 2004. It is during her term that experimental and bold films like "Tere Bin Laden", "Dev D" and "Love, Sex Aur Dhokha" were released.

She has also been the face of Indian cinema at foreign film festivals, like the prestigious Cannes International Film Festival, where she served as a jury member in 2009.

Sharmila married Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, the cricket star and skipper, in 1969, and has three children - actors Saif and Soha, and designer Saba.

Saif received the Padma Shri honour in 2010.