Sharmila Tagore says people do not let her forget the bikini shoot she did for a magazine in 1966

Veteran actor Sharmila Tagore became one of the first mainstream Bollywood actors to appear on a magazine cover in a bikini in 1966. However, she says people now do not let her forget about it.

Veteran actor Sharmila Tagore has spoken about her unconventional personality and choices. Ever since she made her debut with Apur Sansar in 1959, she has been known to pick up different film roles and never shy away from trying things others might not.

Sharmila Tagore posed in a bikini for Filmfare magazine's cover in 1966.

In a recent online session, Sharmila opened up about being one of the first mainstream Bollywood actors to pose in a bikini on a magazine cover. Sharmila wore a black and white bikini on the cover of Filmfare magazine in 1966.

Speaking during a session with her fans, hosted by Film Companion, Sharmila talked about how her choices have always been unconventional. "My life choices, looking back, have been unconventional. Like the bikini shot for Filmfare, that people don't ever let me forget," she said.

As per a report in Filmfare, it was Sharmila's idea to pose in a bikini for the magazine. Talking about it, she had once said, in an interview to Filmfare, "Oh! God, how conservative our society was back then! I’ve no idea why I did that shoot. It was just before I got married. I remember when I showed the two-piece bikini to the photographer, he asked me, 'Are you sure about this?' In some of the shots, he even asked me to cover my body. He was more worried than I was but I had no qualms doing that shoot. Only when people started reacting strongly to the cover, was I taken aback. I was puzzled as to why they didn’t like the picture. I thought I looked nice. Some called it a deliberate move to grab eyeballs; others termed me as ‘astutely uncanny’. I hated that. Maybe, there was an exhibitionist in me, as I was young and excited to do something different.”

Recently, a clip of Sharmila's appearance on daughter-in-law Kareena Kapoor's radio show What Women Want had gone viral. In it, Kareena asked Sharmila about the difference between a daughter and daughter-in-law.

Sharmila replied, “Well, a daughter is someone you’ve grown up with, right? So you know her temperament, you know what makes her angry and how to deal with that person. You’re meeting your daughter-in-law when she is an adult already and you don’t quite know what her temperament is like, so it takes time to gel. The new girl, your daughter-in-law, is coming to your house so you need to welcome her and make her more comfortable."

Sharmila currently lives in Delhi while her children Saif, Soha and Saba are in Mumbai.