The two time National Award winning actress Sharmila Tagore famed for her spellbinding loveliness and phenomenal performances in Indian cinema will be celebrating her 65th birthday today. Sharmila Tagore was born on 8th December 1946 into a Hindu Bengali family in Hyderabad. Her father Gitindranath Tagore served as the Deputy General Manager at the Elgin Mills, then owned by the British India Company.

Sharmila Tagore gained immense popularity as an actress in Bengali and Hindi film industry during sixties and seventies.
She married Mansoor Ali Khan Patudi, a well known Indian cricketer and the Nawab of Pataudi in the year 1969. Sharmila Tagore is the mother of Bollywood actors Saif Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan, while her other daughter, Saba Ali Khan is a jewelry designer.

Sharmila Tagore started her acting career under the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray. She made her debut at an age of fourteen in Satyajit Ray’s ‘Apur Sansar’ and later appeared in a number of Ray films including ‘Devi’, ‘Nayak’, ‘Aranyer Din Ratri’ and ‘Seemabaddha’.

Sharmila Tagore’s first Bollywood film was Shakti Samanta’s ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’ opposite Shammi Kapoor.Her acting skills and youtful beauty were appreciated by one and all and she became a sensation overnight. Sharmila next worked with the leading filmmakers like Yash Chopra in ‘Waqt’, Hrishikesh Mukherjee in ‘Anupama’ and Mohan Segal in ‘Devar’.

Sharmila Tagore became the first Indian actress to wear  two piece bikini onscreen in Shakti Samanta’s 1967 hit ‘An Evening in Paris’ opposite Shammi Kapoor. Sharmila’s bold act of donning a two piece bikini became a trendsetter and made her one of the hottest Bollywood actress. Sharmila Tagore was paired with superstar Rajesh Khanna in a number of films as they managed to portray an amazing onscreen chemistry. They appeared together in successful films like ‘Aradhana’, ‘Amar Prem’, ‘Daag’, ‘Maalik’ and ‘Safar’.

Sharmila Tagore won accolades for her performance in Gulzar's 1975 film,’ Mausam’ for which she received the coveted National Film Award for Best Actress. Sharmila continued to give more hits in Bollywood wit special mentions to her path breaking performances in ‘Chupke Chupke’, ‘Amanush’, and ‘Desh Premee’.

Sharmila has done special appearances in movies  like Mira Nair’s ‘Mississippi Masala ’ co-starring Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury and Roshan Seth. Sharmila Tagore was recently seen alongside Amitabh Bachchan in ‘Viruddh... Family Comes First’ and ‘Eklavya: The Royal Guard’. Sharmila won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Nomination for ‘Viruddh... Family Comes First’ and ‘Eklavya: The Royal Guard’ became India’s official entry to the Oscars in the year 2007.

Sharmila Tagore has won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress in the year 2004 for Goutom Ghosh’s Bengali film ‘Abar Aranye’. She has also been honored with the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters of France.

Sharmila Tagore has served as the chairperson on the Indian Film Censor Board and she has worked as the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Sharmila Tagore was a member of the Cannes Film Festival Jury in the year 2009.

FridayMoviez wishes Sharmila Tagore a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!