'People don't ever let me forget': Sharmila Tagore opens up on being first mainstream actor to wear bikini in 1966

Sharmila Tagore is one of the most loved actors we have in Bollywood. Often she has been lauded for her unconventional choices. Be it working after marriage, after having children or even donning a bikini onscreen, Sharmila has done it all! Now, during an online session, Tagore opened up about posing in a bikini for a magazine shoot back in 1966 and becoming the first mainstream actor to do so.

During a Film Companion session, Sharmila stated, "My life choices, looking back, have been unconventional. Like the bikini shot for Filmfare, that people don't ever let me forget."

It was reported that Sharmila herself suggested posing in a bikini for the shoot. The veteran actor further said, "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."

The Aradhana actor added, "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."