Birthday Special: A Look At Veteran Actress Tanuja’s Life And Film Career – News18

Veteran actress Tanuja needs no introduction. She entered Bollywood as a child actress with a film, which was produced by her mother, Shobhna Samarth. The name of the film is Hamari Beti. In the film, Tanuja played the childhood role of her elder sister Nutan.During that time, there was not much money in the film world, so due to the deteriorating financial condition of the family, Tanuja had to make her debut on screen at the age of 16. Today, on September 23, Tanuja celebrates her 81st birthday. On this special occasion, let’s take a look at the actress’ career and life.

According to reports, Tanuja was very fond of learning languages, so her mother sent her to St George School in Switzerland for studies. She could not study there for long; the financial condition of the house deteriorated, and Tanuja had to return. Almost 10 years after playing the role of a child artist in the film Hamari Beti, Tanuja had to debut in Bollywood for the second time through the film Chhabili. This 1960 Hindi drama film was directed by Shobhna Samarth under the banner of Shobhana Pictures. The film was made by Samarth to launch her daughter Tanuja.

Although Tanuja has appeared in only 35 films in her entire film career, her versatile acting skill has left an impression on the hearts of the audience. The 1961 film Hamari Yaad Aayegi gave Tanuja recognition as a lead actress in the film industry. The romantic drama film was written and directed by Kidar Sharma, and it also featured director’s son Ashok Sharma in the main role along with Tanuja, Anant Kumar, Madhavi, Sujata, and Rajinder Dube.

Tanuja has worked in well-known films like Izzat, Haathi Mere Saathi, Do Chor, Anubhav, Jewel Thief, Jeene Ki Raah, and Mere Jeevan Saathi. Do you know Sharmila Tagore was supposed to work with Rajesh Khanna in the 1972 blockbuster film Haathi Mere Saathi, but this film came to Tanuja’s share; this film made Tanuja’s star shine overnight. The film was directed by MA Thirumugam, was the biggest hit of 1971 going by box office collections, and was also critically acclaimed.

Talking about her personal life, Tanuja was born in a Marathi family to filmmaker Kumarsen Samarth and actress Shobhna Samarth. She has three sisters, including actress Nutan, and one brother. Tanuja married filmmaker Shomu Mukherjee in 1973. The couple has two daughters, actresses Kajol and Tanisha. As soon as Tanisha was born, the couple separated, but they did not divorce each other.