Sharmila Tagore Reflects On The Lighthearted Magic Of ‘Chupke Chupke’

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India-West News Desk

NEW DELHI – As Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s beloved comedy Chupke Chupke completes 50 years, veteran actress Sharmila Tagore looked back on the making of the film with warmth and nostalgia.

In a recent interview with film critic Subhash K Jha, Tagore described the 1975 film as a welcome shift from the serious roles she had played in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s earlier films like Anupama and Satyakam, both co-starring Dharmendra. “Those were intense, emotionally demanding roles. In Anupama, I barely spoke,” she said. “So, when Hrishida offered us a fun film like Chupke Chupke, we all jumped at it.”

Calling the film “a delightful experience,” Tagore credited Mukherjee’s clarity and vision for the ensemble’s seamless chemistry. “Hrishida knew exactly what he wanted us actors to do. We just followed his direction,” she recalled.

The actress also offered an interesting perspective on the roles played by Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan. “Amit and Jaya had very little to do in the film. But they were happy to be part of it, just for Hrishida’s sake,” she said, adding that the cast—including Om Prakash, Asrani, and Usha Kiron—was united by the sheer joy of collaboration.

Chupke Chupke, loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, remains a hallmark of Hindi cinema’s comedic legacy.

Sharmila Tagore, who recently returned to Bengali cinema with Puratawn after a 14-year hiatus, shared the screen with Rituparna Sengupta and Indraneil Sengupta in the project.