Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore has spoken up about the controversial bikini shoot she did for entertainment magazine Filmfare in 1966 and her unconventional personality and choices. Opening up recently in another interview, the actress said that she has no qualms in doing the shoot. In fact, she was left pleasantly surprised about the brouhaha as she was one of the first mainstream Bollywood actors to pose in a bikini on a magazine cover.

Talking about how her life choices have always been unconventional, Sharmila told the online portal, "My life choices, looking back, have been unconventional. Like the bikini shot for Filmfare, that people don't ever let me forget.” Apparently, the idea to pose in a bikini was her idea.

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 Talking about the same to the portal she 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. 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.”

Sharmila married Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and is a mother to three children-Saif Ali Khan, Saba Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan.

(Source: Film Companion)