Sharmila Tagore , wearing a blue chequered blouse and flared pants zooming across rugged terrain, scores high during the final showdown of ...
Sharmila Tagore, wearing a blue chequered blouse and flared pants zooming across rugged terrain, scores high during the final showdown of the 1975 film Anari. Tagore comes across as a beacon of danger breathing fire and brimstone through her eyes. In this scene, as in real life, she doesn’t need a knight in shining armour to rescue her. She’s her own knight, her own saviour, doing what it takes to protect her honour and her lover.
Director Asit Sen probably understood this fact about the woman and actor all too well. In casting her in the role, he wasn’t breaking stereotypes, but perhaps allowing Tagore’s true character to reveal itself. Like her other directors, he was aware that she had successfully redefined the relationship between a man and a woman through the 1960s and 1970s. While the scene may have ended with the death of Tagore’s character during combat, her formidable strength and grit remains alive, both onscreen and off it.
Sharmila Tagore’s multidimensional legacy of is more powerful and palpable than most of the actors of her time. Tagore became every woman she wanted to be while perfecting every aspect of acting. She thrived in spite of bucking many of Hindi film industry’s...
