Sharmila Tagore was at the peak of her career when she married cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi in 1968. But she continued to work even after she was a mother. She broke many stereotypes and continued acting at a time when women were not allowed to work after marriage. As Tagore turned 81 recently on December 8, here’s recalling the time when her daughter Soha Ali Khan had spoken about her parents. She revealed that her mother not only continued to work after marriage but after the children were born, she was the breadwinner of the family as Tiger Pataudi had retired from cricket. At that time, there were no other sources of income for cricketers like we have today, like endorsements, social media or even IPL. She said during a chat with Just Too Filmy, “We are often influenced by people who are close to us, and one big role model for me was my father. By the time I was born, he had retired from cricket, but he played for the enjoyment of the sport. There was no money at all if you can believe it, in cricket when my father was playing in the 1960s. No IPL, no endorsements, nothing.”Soha had further said, “My mother was the breadwinner in the family, so I always saw him saying, ‘You should do what makes you happy’, and I also saw my mother, who also has been an actor her whole life, and she still chose to do whatever her heart prompted her to do. At the age of 24, she got married even though you typically don’t do that if you are a woman. You know that when you get married, your career will take a bit of a hit. She had a child a couple of years later, and she continued to work. She had some of her biggest successes after that.”Earlier during a chat with ETimes, Sharmila Tagore had spoken about being a working woman after having children. She said during an exclusive chat with us, “All working women were frowned upon. The society thought we are bad women because we are leaving our children and going to work. But there’s a lot of pain and sacrifice in doing that. That’s how we were judged. Somehow, a man’s work was always valued. A woman’s work was not valued. The notion was that the man is earning a living, so your role is in the kitchen. I taught my children early in life that when I had to go to work, they tell me, ‘Get a 10 on 10’. The way I would wish them for exams, they had to wish me when I went to work. I have taught them that while I am not neglecting them, my work makes me happy, just like going to a birthday party makes them happy. They learned to accept me as a working person and would ask me questions about my work. They didn’t think I was leaving them or depriving them by going to work.”
