Veteran actor Sharmila Tagore expressed that winning a National Film Award after the overwhelming audience appreciation for “Gulmohar” is like the icing on the cake. The film, directed by Rahul V Chittella, revolves around a family preparing to bid farewell to their ancestral home and has won awards for Best Hindi Film and Best Dialogue Writing for Chittella. Manoj Bajpayee also received a special mention for his role as Tagore’s eldest son in the film.
The team behind “Gulmohar”, which was released on Disney+Hotstar in 2023, must get together to celebrate the win, Tagore said. “After Tiger (husband Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi) passed away, there was so much to do but there was no time. This film received a lot of love from the audience and got so many awards from so many platforms that it has been a wonderful journey. Now this National Award is the icing on the cake. I feel over the moon,” Tagore added.
The 79-year-old said working on the family drama in Delhi during Covid-19 brought everyone together and the cast members continue to be friends. “Every member, even the crew members are calling me.
There’s so much friendship amongst us that everybody is happy for each other. Like, Manoj is happy for me, I’m happy for Manoj,” she said.
The actor said Chittella was about to call her when she rang him up and congratulated him. She also reached out to Bajpayee and other cast members. “We’ve told Rahul that he has to organise something so that all of us can meet and enjoy ourselves. That’s something that I’ll keep at it till we do it. We must (celebrate),” the veteran star said.
After “Gulmohar,” Tagore contributed to the Bengali film “Puratawn,” which she mentioned is set to be released by the end of January. With a vast body of work, Tagore expressed her desire to continue acting as long as possible, but she emphasized that the roles must be meaningful and worthy of her talent.
“If things work out and if there’s a good scrip, of course, I will work (more) But it has to suit me and these things cannot be planned. Sometimes a good script comes along and that’s how ‘Gulmohar’ and ‘Puratawn’ happened. Let’s hope something like that comes and certainly, I want to work till my dying day. But the script has to be good, especially after ‘Gulmohar’,” said the actress.
(with PTI inputs)
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