Early life

Simi Garewal was born in Ludhiana, Punjab, India, in a Jat Sikh family. Her father, J. S. Garewal served in the Indian Army rising to the rank of brigadier. Simi is a cousin of Pamela Chopra, wife of film-maker 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 felicity with the English language induced the makers of the English-language film Tarzan Goes to India to offer her a role. A gangly 15-year-old, Garewal made her debut alongside Feroz Khan in this film in 1962. Her performance was good enough for her to fetch many more film offers. During the 1960s and '70s, she was in several notable Indian films, working with leading directors such as Mehboob Khan's Son of India, Raj Kapoor in Mera Naam Joker (1970), Satyajit Ray in Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest), Mrinal Sen in Padatik (The Guerilla Fighter) and Raj Khosla in Do Badan. She starred opposite Shashi Kapoor in Columbia Pictures' Siddhartha, an English-language movie based on the novel by Hermann Hesse. Garewal did a nude scene in this film which caused some controversy in India. Later, in the mid-1970s, she made an appearance in the popular film Kabhi Kabhie (1976), made by her uncle 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, for which she won the first prize from the 1988 Paters Award in Australia.

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 host and judge. After the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008, Simi Garewal caused a storm of criticism in India and abroad by publicly calling for the Indian government to "carpet-bomb" the terrorist camps of its neighbour, Pakistan.

She returned to television with her new talk show India's Most Desirable on Star Plus which would interview 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: www.simigarewal.com. The site has her voice reading the text.

Personal life

Garewal had her first serious relationship at the age of 17, with then Maharaja of Jamnagar, who was also her neighbor in England. In the early 1980s, Garewal dated Salman Taseer, a Pakistani businessman.

Garewal was married to Ravi Mohan of Chunnamal family from old Delhi but her marriage was short and she is now divorced.

Popularity

Simi Garewal is a popular TV host and has acted in few Bollywood movies. In 1972, for her nude scene in Siddhartha with actor Shashi Kapoor, the movie couldn't be released in India due to censorship and created controversy.

Filmography

As an actress

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1962	Raaz Ki Baat	Kamal
1962	Son of India	Lalita
1962	Tarzan Goes to India	Princess Kamara
1965	Teen Devian	Simi/Radha Rani
1965	Johar-Mehmood in Goa	Simmi
1966	Do Badan	Dr. Anjali	Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award
1968	Aadmi	Aarti
1968	Saathi	Rajini	Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award
1968	Ek Raat	Rekha B Sharma
1970	Mera Naam Joker	Mary
1970	Aranyer Din Ratri	Duli	Bengali film
1971	Andaz	Mona
1971	Do Boond Pani	Gauri
1971	Seema
1972	Anokhi Pehchan
1972	Siddhartha	Kamala
1973	Padatik	Woman who shelters activist
1973	Namak Haraam	Manisha
1974	Haath Ki Safai	Roma S Kumar
1976	Naach Uthe Sansaar	Somu
1976	Chalte Chalte	Geeta
1976	Kabhi Kabhie	Shobha Kapoor
1977	Abhi To Jee Lein	Miss Mahajan
1979	Ahsaas	Asha Choudhry
1980	The Burning Train	School Teacher
1980	Karz	Kamini Verma	Nominated - Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award
1980	Insaf Ka Tarazu	Lawyer
1981	Naseeb	Herself	Cameo Appearance
1981	Professor Pyarelal	Rita
1981	Biwi O Biwi	Nisha
1982	Teri Meri Kahani	Meena Sastry/Seema
1982	Hathkadi	Pammi Mittal
1986	Love and God	Ghazala
1988	Rukhsat	Radha Talwar	Also Director

Television

Year	Show name	Role	Notes
1985	Living Legend Raj Kapoor	Writer/Director	Documentary on Raj Kapoor for Channel Four Television, UK
1991	India's Rajiv	Writer/Director	Three part documentary series on Rajiv Gandhi
1997	Rendezvous with Simi Garewal	Host

Awards and nominations

• 1966-Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award - Do Badan
• 1968-Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award - Saathi
• 1980-Filmfare Nomination as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Karz
• 1999-Screen Awards for Best Talk Show & Best Anchor
• 2001-RAPA Award for Best Anchor & Talk show
• 2003-Indian Television Academy Award for Best Anchor
• 2003-Rotary Award for Vocational Excellence in Media & Television
• 2004-Indian Filmgoers Association Award Best Talk Show

[ Source: Wikipedia ]