The eternal diva of Hindi cinema – Simi Garewal – is all set to rock the virtual world after storming Bollywood and television. Today on October 17 (her birthday) she launched her website: simigarewal.com.
“I have spent the last four months working continuously on it,” she says. “It wasn’t easy finding all the photographs required for the site. Writing reams of material – each word has been written by me – so it’s extremely personal! Luckily, I’ve always kept a detailed diary that recorded every conversation all through my life – so it really came in handy now. I’ve also put together the designs and music. This site will have full episodes of all my TV shows in high definition quality. Surfers can also read my experiences of working in my favourite films.” If this sounds delicious, there is more to it. “They can read about my encounters with Rajiv Gandhi, Raj Kapoor, Satyajit Ray and so many others; also, my personal comments on my Rendezvous guests. It’s a huge site – it will take people days, maybe weeks to go through it!”. She adds, “Apart from all this, I believe, for the first time, people will get an insight into my personal life – and me personally!”
Simi is aware of the fact that many celebrities started their online presence only to leave it midway after a few months. She explains her reasons for going online, “You know, all my life I have been a very private person. I have stayed out of the gossip columns and tabloids, because I love my privacy. But I realized, because of that, I seem to have built invisible walls around me. Over the years I have received wonderful messages and a great deal of affection from my loyal fans, which has really touched me. So, I thought, why keep these walls that separate us? Why not build bridges instead – so I can reach out to them – and they to me? That’s when I decided that creating my own personal website could be that bridge. My site is going to continue to grow. I will constantly update and add to it. And I hope it will become interactive soon”.
Simi Garewal’s background:
Simi Garewal is one of the few Bollywood stars with extensive experience both in front of the camera – and behind it. She has acted in approximately 50 films; and has the distinction of working with renowned directors like Raj Kapoor in Mera Naam Joker (1970), Satyajit Ray’s Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest), Mrinal Sen’s Padatik (The Guerilla Fighter). She portrayed an interesting role in Chalte Chalte (1976) followed by a challenging one in the super-hit Karz (1980). She also starred opposite Shashi Kapoor in Columbia Pictures’ Siddhartha, an English-language movie based on the novel by Herman Hesse.
Simi 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 3-part documentary on Rajiv Gandhi titled India’s Rajiv. Simi also wrote and directed a Hindi feature film Rukhsat and produced television commercials, which won her the 1st Prize from the 1988 Paters Award in Australia.
Garewal also produced, directed and hosted the talk show Rendezvous with Simi Garewal, which ruled TV chat shows for ten years.
Last year ‘Simi Selects India’s Most Desirable” on Star World was avidly talked about with its single, eligible and desirable guests – among them Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Shahid Kapoor, Freida Pinto, John Abraham, Sonakshi Sinha, Yuvraj Singh, Siddhartha Mallaya and even Lady Ga Ga.
Simi now plans to direct a Hindi feature film she has written and has also created a format for a unique television show.
