Sharmila Tagore reveals she was an ‘absent’ mother during Saif Ali Khan’s growing years: ‘Made few mistakes’

Veteran Bollywood actor

Sharmila Tagore

says she was “absent” for the first six years after giving birth to her son,

Saif Ali Khan

. The veteran actor, who was married to cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan, said when the couple had Saif, she was doing at least two shifts a day in the film industry.
During a recent Mother’s Day event for YFLO, the 79-year-old actor talked about her first experience as a mother and acknowledged that she might have made a “few mistakes”.

Sharmila also has two daughters, Saba Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan.
Sharmila Tagore shared, “When I had Saif, I was very busy. I was working two shifts a day and for the first six years of his life, I was really

absent

. I did whatever I had to do/I went for the parent teachers meeting, attended his plays but I don’t think I was a full-time mom. My husband was there, but I wasn’t. Then when I became a mother, I became an overzealous mother. I wanted to feed him, bathe him and everything. That was the other side of the pendulum. I made a few mistakes, honestly.”
She further added, “But he has grown up pretty ok. My husband was there, and we had the support of the extended family and my friends. One of his schoolteachers would live across the apartment in Mumbai. She and her husband really looked after Saif as well… For the girls I was there.”

Sharmila Tagore and her daughters Soha and Saba Ali Khan made an appearance on ‘Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai’ some decades ago. On the show, the legendary actor had revealed when Saif Ali Khan was born, she was working ‘non-stop’, which diminished by the time she had her daughters.
She said, “I was doing two-shifts in a day and sometimes I would not see him three-four days in a row. But by the time my daughters were born, I wasn’t working that much, so there wasn’t any filmy atmosphere at home.”

Soha Ali Khan had mentioned on the broadcast how they had never seen their mother’s “film side.” Saba recalled the one specific memory she had of her mother, although Soha had stated she was unfamiliar with her mother waking up early morning for shoots. “We were taken aback to see her cry profusely. She told us that was glycerin! That’s when we realised that there is something like fake crying as well! That she was ok, there was nothing wrong with Amma,” she had recalled.