The films of mother and daughter, Sharmila Tagore and Soha Ali Khan represent between them the last several decades of Indian cinema – from the Bengali classics of Satyajit Ray to the blockbuster hits of today’s vital Hindi cinema, based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and sometimes referred to as “Bollywood.” Born in 1946, Tagore is the great-granddaughter of the distinguished Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. She was a schoolgirl with no acting experience when the great Satyajit Ray cast her as the female lead in The World of Apu (1959).

Impressed by her instinctive ability to project sincerity and intelligence, Ray cast her in three more films, often in roles embodying “the conscience” of the films, as Tagore herself has put it. Ray usually paired her with actor Soumitra Chatterjee. Of this pairing, critic Robin Wood wrote, “their beauty—at once physical and spiritual—seems the ideal incarnation of Ray’s belief in human potentialities.” Tagore would become not just a respected actor but a major star in the enormous Hindi film industry in the 1960s and 1970s.

Besides remaining active herself as an onscreen performer, Tagore has seen two of her children become celebrated actors as well. In 1969, she married Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, one of India’s most famous cricket players. Their first child, Saif Ali Khan, is now a major star of Hindi films, and in recent years has been joined by his younger sister, Soha Ali Khan.

Born in 1978, Soha Ali Khan studied history and international relations before beginning her acting career in 2004. Her breakthrough came in 2006 as one of the female leads of the critically and commercially successful Rang de Basanti, for which she won several awards. Like her mother, Khan combines a graceful charisma with an understated acting style and has made a reputation for choosing her roles carefully. – David Pendleton