By Basab Dasgupta
The Kansas City Chiefs (KCC) defeated the San Francisco Forty-niners in the Super Bowl of American Football played on February 11 in Las Vegas. The TV broadcast drew a record number of viewers. Apart from the fact that it was a thrilling match extending into overtime, another reason for the increased attention to the game was the budding romance between the pop music superstar Taylor Swift and one of the key players of the KCC, Travis Kelce.
It seemed that the entire world was anxiously watching their saga, especially to see if Swift would be able to attend the Super Bowl to cheer for her boyfriend immediately after completion of the Tokyo segment of her Eras tour.
Well, she made it and TV reports, social media, and news magazines were all buzzing with photos of the couple celebrating the KCC’s victory. This drew attention to other similar couples, both in the past and present where the man in the relationship is a famous athlete and the woman is a celebrity entertainer (actress, musician, model, etc.) Names of power couples were mentioned, going back decades, to Marlyn Monroe (actress) and Joe DiMaggio (baseball) to the more recent pair, Shakira (singer) and Gerard Pique (soccer).
This information made me curious to see if there are similar couples in India. Sure enough, an internet search revealed the following couples where males are cricketers (except Bhupathi) and females are actresses: Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma, Yuvaraj Singh and Hazel Keech, Mahesh Bhupathi and Lara Dutta, Hardik Pandya and Natasa Stankovic, Mohammed Azharuddin and Sangeeta Bijlani, Harbhajan Singh and Geeta Basra, KL Rahul and Athiya Shetty and finally, Zaheer Khan and Sagarika Ghatge.
Having lived outside of India for several decades, I do not know much about these romances, but I fondly remember one love story from my college days which still stands out as the most heartwarming to me: the one between the famous actress Sharmila Tagore and the incredibly talented cricket player/captain Mansur Ali Khan aka Nawab of Pataudi.
In my opinion a truly great relationship must satisfy at least three criteria:
- Unconditional and continuous commitment from both partners with mutual respect for each other’s talents
- Willingness to sacrifice anything to make the relationship work
- Establishment of a happy and healthy household conducive to raising good children.
Many of the relationships between celebrities, especially in western countries, do not last for one reason or another. Sometimes previous marriages and children cause various distractions. Many couples seem to be satisfied with a lavish glamorous lifestyle without any children of their own. From the point of view of my criteria, the Sharmila-Pataudi union was perfect.
They were both single when they got married in 1968. They remained married for 43 years until Pataudi passed away in 2011. I have not heard of any scandal involving either one during their entire marriage. Even after Pataudi’s death, Sharmila remained faithful to his memories.
No one can question their talents in their respective fields. Sharmila has been an outstanding actress in both Hindi and Bengali movies in a variety of roles starting from that of a housewife in a conservative family (“The World of Apu”, “Devi”) to a cabaret dancer in a Paris nightclub (“An Evening in Paris”); she won numerous accolades in the process (including Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award for her contribution to performing arts). Pataudi became the youngest captain of any national cricket team at age 21 during India’s visit to the West Indies when the captain Nari Contractor was injured and had to be removed from active participation.
Pataudi has been hailed as a great captain and was the captain of the Indian team in 40 of his 46 test matches. As a batsman he has been occasionally compared with the incomparable Donald Bradman while playing with only one good eye. He received an Arjuna award from the government of India and was a Wisden cricketer of the year in 1968.
I absolutely admire Sharmila’s courage and determination in everything that she sets her mind to. She was not afraid to show off her beautiful figure. She was the first Bollywood actress to pose in a bikini on the cover of a film magazine. It does not seem like a big deal now but remember this happened during the sixties; coming from the revered Tagore family, she had the additional challenge of overcoming the stigma against such a display. However, the most impressive act to me was her conversion to Islam with the new name “Begum Ayesha Sultana” so that she could marry Pataudi without any religious barrier. Such interfaith marriages were rare during those days.
Pataudi’s determination showed in both his professional career on the field and personal life. He lost sight in one of his eyes from a car accident where a small shard of glass from the broken car windshield entered his right eye and permanently damaged it. Miraculously, this did not deter him, not only from playing but excelling to the highest degree. On a personal front, he was already in a relationship with another beautiful Bollywood actress – Simi Garewal when he met Sharmila. Simi was madly in love with Pataudi. It must have been painful and difficult for him to break that relation, but he knew that Sharmila was the one.
There is a touching story about how Pataudi broke up with Simi. Like a gentleman, he went to her home to personally deliver the bad news about their relationship being over, and the appearance of a new woman in his life. As he left her home, Simi accompanied him to the elevator despite his insistence that she did not do so. Simi found Sharmila waiting for him downstairs. No one made a scene about it which spoke volumes for the decency of both ladies.
The subsequent long married life is a testament to their love. They not only produced three loving children, but each one has also become wonderfully successful in their chosen professions; the son, Saif Ali Khan is an accomplished mega star in his own right and happily married to another famous Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor.
One of the daughters, Soha Ali Khan is following in her mother’s footsteps in becoming a Bollywood actress, while the other daughter Saba Ali Khan went in a different direction; she is a famed jewelry designer and the “mutawalli” (chief trustee) of “Auqaf-e-Shahir” – a charitable trust endowed by the royal family of Bhopal. From all the news and photos that I see about Sharmila and her family it seems that she is living a happy peaceful life.
My message to all celebrity power couples: take the example of Sharmila-Pataudi’s love story as your gold standard to follow.
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Basab Dasgupta has a doctorate in physics from University of Wisconsin and worked with Sony as Vice President of an operating division. Retired, he now lives in San Clemente, CA.
Disclaimer: The views expressed are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times
