Saba Ali Khan Reveals Why Sharmila Tagore Converted to Islam
· Entertainment · Indian Express, Times of India
Saba Ali Khan has stated that her mother, veteran actor Sharmila Tagore, converted to Islam to ensure her marriage to cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was legally and traditionally accepted. Speaking to Siddharth Kannan, Saba explained that her grandmother would not have approved of the union otherwise, making the conversion a necessity of the era. Despite the conversion, Saba noted that her mother was never pressured to change her name in official documents or abandon her professional career. She credited her father for maintaining a liberal environment that allowed Sharmila to continue working as an actor.
Why it matters
This clarification offers insight into the personal and social pressures faced by a prominent interfaith couple in the Indian film industry during the 1960s.
Read the original report — Indian Express
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