Simi Garewal

Early life Garewal was born in Ludhiana on 17 October 1947. Her father, Brigadier J. S. Garewal served in the Indian Army. Simi is a cousin of Pamela Chopra, wife of director Yash Chopra. Simi's mother Darshi and Pamela's father Mohinder Singh were siblings. Simi grew up in England and studied at Newland House School with her sister Amrita.

Film and television career After spending much of her childhood in England, Garewal returned to India while a teenager. Her fluency in the English language induced the makers of the English-language film Tarzan Goes to India to offer her a role. Garewal made her debut alongside Feroz Khan in this film released in 1962. Her performance was good enough for her to fetch many more film offers. During the 1960s and '70s, she starred in several notable Indian films, working with leading directors such as with Mehboob Khan in Son of India (1962), Raj Khosla in Do Badan (1966), Raj Kapoor in Mera Naam Joker (1970), Satyajit Ray in Aranyer Din Ratri (1970, Days and Nights in the Forest) and Mrinal Sen in Padatik (1973, The Guerilla Fighter). She starred opposite Shashi Kapoor in Columbia Pictures' Siddhartha (1972), an English-language movie based on the novel by Hermann Hesse. Garewal performed a nude scene in this film which caused some controversy in India and was only released for exhibition after complying with cuts ordered by the Indian Censor Board. Later, in the mid-1970s, she made an appearance in the popular film Kabhi Kabhie (1976), made by her brother in-law Yash Chopra, and had a starring role in Chalte Chalte (1976). Another notable role she played was as a vamp in Karz (1980). She starred in the BBC docu-drama Maharajas (1987), based on the book by Charles Allen.

In the early 1980s, her attention turned to writing and direction. She formed her own production company, Siga Arts International. She hosted, produced and directed a TV series for Doordarshan called It's a Woman's World (1983). She also made a documentary for Channel 4 in the UK called Living Legend Raj Kapoor (1984). This was followed by a three-part documentary on Rajiv Gandhi titled India's Rajiv. She wrote and directed a Hindi feature film Rukhsat and produced television commercials.

Garewal anchored the talk show Rendezvous with Simi Garewal.

She usually wears her signature white clothes on TV shows and at award ceremonies, and is popularly known as "The Lady in White". Garewal recently appeared on Say Shava Shava 2008 as a hostess and judge. After the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008, Simi Garewal aroused controversy by publicly calling for the Indian government to "carpet-bomb" the training camps in Pakistan for which she later apologised.

She returned to television with her new talk show India's Most Desirable on Star Plus which would interview only eligible singles, Bollywood actors, business and media icons, and Indian cricketers about their "ideal and desirable beaus".

Simi Garewal has her own website which she uses to interact with her fans. The site has her voice reading the text. She also has her own channel on YouTube where all her shows and documentaries are uploaded. The channel has received over 40 million views.

Personal life Garewal had her first serious relationship at the age of 17, with the Maharaja of Jamnagar, Shatrusalyasinhji who was also her neighbour in England. Garewal was later in a relationship with Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, the Nawab of Pataudi, but he broke up with her after he met Sharmila Tagore. She was then in a relationship with the Pakistani politician Salman Taseer, which began in Dubai, and ended after a year.

In 1970, she married Ravi Mohan, a member of the aristocratic Chunnamal family from Delhi. They divorced in 1979.

Filmography As an actress

Television