Prince Pataudi meets screen goddess Sharmila Tagore: A fairytale love story

The romance and marriage of Mansur Ali Khan, Nawab of Pataudi, with Bollywood star Sharmila Tagore was the stuff that fairytales are made of, with a happily-ever-after ending. This despite the lovers coming from very different backgrounds — he, a blue-blooded young royal who played cricket, she a film actress.

It did not help that one was a Muslim, the other a Hindu. While Sharmila’s parents, who were simple middle-class Bengalis, were sceptical about their daughter marrying a nawab, Tiger’s parents were unsure about their son marrying a screen goddess.

But eventually both sides relented and the two married on December 27, 1969, after a four-year courtship.

Few expected the marriage to last, and, in fact, bets were placed at the time on how long the two would be together. But they lasted a lifetime, until the suave cricketer passed away on Thursday.

There was a strong buzz back then that Sharmila was excommunicated by a Hindu guru and that was why she converted to Islam and took on the name Ayesha Sultana. But that was not the only change. The actress graciously moulded herself into the role of a nawab’s wife, even quitting films for a while to play the perfect begum to her real-life hero.

There were enough elements in their love story to warrant a film.

The two had apparently met in 1965 through common friends, when Sharmila was in Delhi for a shoot. She was the gorgeous star and Mansur, the suave young India captain, both glamorous figures. Despite the obvious attraction, it took him a while to win her heart. According to some reports, he even gifted Sharmila a refrigerator in a bid to win over his ladylove. But it was roses that finally did the trick and four long years before she accepted his proposal.

Those close to the couple say it was Sharmila’s beauty, vivacity, yet mature outlook that bowled Pataudi over, while it was his great sense of humour and charming ways that had her smitten. The chemistry hardly changed over the years. But while Sharmila was a cricket buff, Pataudi was clueless about Hindi cinema. Sharmila has even admitted in her interviews that Tiger hadn’t seen any of her films and that she could never get him hooked on Bollywood.

There was, however, a lot of respect between the two. Both were comfortable in their space. If Sharmila gave up films, it was not under pressure, and Pataudi always respected her choices and was supportive of her decision, whether to quit or to go back to films.