The diva that she is, Sharmila Tagore never was much of a dancer. She admits it.

“You are right. I didn’t enjoy dancing for a very long time. Then when I was doing O P Ralhan’s Talash(in 1968) I got a chance to work with Saroj Khanji. She taught me to loosen up and enjoy the dancing,” she remembers fondly.

Hence her fluency with her steps in the popular Talash dance numbers Jhunli raat ma and Khayee hai re humne kasam.

Sharmila records, “When I came into Hindi cinema I carried a lot of inhibitions with me about singing and dancing. I could feel myself enjoying the process (of singing and dancing) after films like Talash, Daag and Raja Rani. A lot of the credit for his goes to Sarojji who not only taught me the steps but also how to be comfortable performing them.”

Is dancing an important part of being a Hindi films heroine? While some of the greatest actresses like Vyjanthimala, Asha Parekh, Hema Malini and Sridevi were dancers other immortal actresses like Meena Kumari, Nargis and Nutan couldn’t dance to save their lives.