Simi Garewalਸਿੰਮੀ ਗਰੇਵਾਲ

Early life

Simi Garewal was born Simrita Garewal on 17 October 1947 in Ludhiana, Punjab, weeks after Independence. Her father, Brigadier J. S. Garewal, served in the Indian Army, and she grew up largely in England, studying at Newland House School with her sister Amrita. The English upbringing gave her a fluency and accent that would shape her entire career. She was a first cousin of Pamela Chopra, wife of director Yash Chopra — the families were deeply embedded in Bombay cinema.

She returned to India as a teenager. Her command of English caught the eye of the makers of Tarzan Goes to India (1962), an English-language film, and at fifteen she debuted opposite Feroz Khan. She then had to do what few actresses of her background attempted: learn Hindi from scratch and build a career in Bombay.

Career

Through the 1960s and 1970s she worked with the era's great directors: Raj Khosla in Do Badan (1966), Raj Kapoor in Mera Naam Joker (1970), Satyajit Ray in the Bengali Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest, 1970), Mrinal Sen in Padatik (1973), and Conrad Rooks in the English-language Siddhartha (1972), based on Hermann Hesse's novel — a role involving a nude scene that caused controversy in India. She won Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actress for both Do Badan and Saathi (1968).

Later film work included Kabhi Kabhie (1976), Chalte Chalte (1976) and a memorable vamp in Karz (1980). She also starred in the Punjabi film Udeekaan and the BBC docu-drama Maharajas (1987). In the early 1980s she turned to writing and direction, forming her production company Siga Arts International, making the Doordarshan series It's a Woman's World (1983), a Channel 4 documentary on Raj Kapoor, and the acclaimed three-part documentary India's Rajiv on Rajiv Gandhi.

Major works

Her landmark as a presenter was Rendezvous with Simi Garewal, the celebrity talk show she hosted, produced and directed, which ran for years and won her an Indian Television Academy Award. Conducted largely in her famous white outfits — she became known as 'the lady in white' — the show's intimate, disarming interviews set the template for Indian celebrity television. As an actress, Do Badan, Saathi, Mera Naam Joker, Siddhartha and Karz remain her most cited work.

She also wrote and directed the Hindi feature film Rukhsat and produced television commercials, winning the first prize at the 1988 Paters Awards in Australia for her ad work.

Her interview style — soft-spoken, unhurried, conducted in immaculate white — drew out confessions that harder journalists never got, and Rendezvous became appointment viewing for English-speaking India through the late 1990s and 2000s.

Personal life

Garewal married Ravi Mohan in 1970; the marriage ended in divorce in 1979. She has no children. She was at one time romantically linked with industrialist Ratan Tata, a relationship she has spoken of fondly in interviews.

Legacy

Simi Garewal's career bridged two eras: the art-house and mainstream cinema of the 1960s–70s, and the television age she helped invent as a host-producer. An actress who worked with Ray and Kapoor, a director who documented Rajiv Gandhi, and the interviewer who made Indian celebrities cry on camera — few Indian media figures have worn so many hats with such elegance.