This LSE graduate left high-paying London job for Bollywood, replaced Katrina Kaif, left films to build hit chat show

This acto recently made her acting comeback in Zoya Akhtar's The Archies (2023). She played Agastya Nanda's mom in the film.

She had a London School of Economics (LSE) degree, a well-paying consulting job in London and what looked like a conventional corporate career ahead of her. But Tara Sharma chose a path not many would take when they have a comfortable job and a salary that allows them to live well in London.

Tara Sharma made her debut in Om Jai Jagadish (2002).

Tara was born to Indian author and playwright Partap Sharma and British artist and author Susan Sharma. Growing up in a family associated with arts and culture, Tara was drawn towards acting and also starred in commercials during her college days. It was those advertisements that eventually helped her land her first film.

Quit high-paying job in London for Bollywood

After graduating from LSE, Tara worked as a consultant at Accenture for two years in London. During college and even after that, she modelled in India and featured in commercials for brands such as Lakme, Liril and Garnier. She also starred alongside Shah Rukh Khan in a Pepsi advertisement.

In an old interaction with Hindustan Times, she said, "I was doing a corporate job at Accenture in London, after studying at the London School of Economics. But I always wanted to act in films, so I quit my job and came to Mumbai."

Debut film flopped, but career took off

Tara admitted that leaving a good salary in London to try her luck in Bollywood was a "huge risk" she undertook. However, thanks to her appearances in big advertisements, she was noticed by Anupam Kher, who offered her a dream debut in Om Jai Jagadish (2002), which marked his directorial debut. Tara starred opposite Amitabh Bachchan's son Abhishek Bachchan in the film. She said, "I didn’t want to have regrets later, so I’m grateful to my parents for supporting me."

When Tara replaced Katrina Kaif in a film

In her second film, Tara replaced Katrina Kaif in Anurag Basu's 2003 film Saaya. Later, speaking to Bollywood Bubble in 2022, Katrina herself admitted that she was replaced by Tara and recalled how she felt her career was over at the time.

She said, “I got thrown out, not thrown out, let’s say replaced, in a film called Saaya, which was an Anurag Basu film with John Abraham and Tara Sharma. After shooting one shot, not one day but just one shot. At that time I thought my life was over. I thought my career was over.”

Tara Sharma's first hit

Her first hit came with the comedy Masti (2004), in which she starred alongside Riteish Deshmukh, Vivek Oberoi and Aftab Shivdasani. This was followed by critically acclaimed films such as Page 3 (2005) and Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006). However, soon the offers started drying up for Tara and she moved towards character roles.

Motherhood helped her pivot

In a 2023 interview with The Times of India, she revealed that acting offers started drying up when she was pregnant with her elder son. “When I was pregnant with our older son who is now 14 (the younger one is 12), I stopped getting acting offers,” she said.

Instead of waiting for another acting opportunity, Tara's father encouraged her to create something of her own. That's when she thought of combining her interests in communication, parenting and business and launched her chat show, The Tara Sharma Show.

The show first premiered in 2011 on TV channel Colors before moving to different channels including NDTV Good Times and Star World, and eventually to YouTube. It went on to become a long-running platform featuring conversations around parenting, family, children and women's experiences.

The show also featured several Bollywood celebrities and well-known personalities as guests, including Kajol, Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Salman Khan, Matthew Hayden, Mary Kom, Jasprit Bumrah, Sunil Chhetri, Konkona Sen Sharma, Shilpa Shetty and Sonam Kapoor, among others.

Tara's acting comeback

Tara made her acting comeback with Zoya Akhtar's 2023 film The Archies, in which she played the role of Agastya Nanda's mother.