Simi Garewal is an Indian actress and a talk show hostess. She is the recipient of two Filmfare awards. She is known for her work in the films Do Badan, Saathi, Mera Naam Joker, Siddhartha,Karz and Udeekaan. She also acted in a Bengali movie named Aranyer Dinratri directed by legendary Satyajit Ray. She is also known for her celebrity talk show, Rendezvous with Simi Garewal.
After spending much of her childhood in England, Garewal returned to India while a teenager. Her facility with the English language induced the makers of the English-language film Tarzan Goes to India to offer her a role. A 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, Satyajit Ray in Aranyer Din Ratri, Mrinal Sen in Padatik 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 and was only released for exhibition after complying with cuts ordered by the Indian Censor board. . Later, in the mid-1970s, she made an appearance in the popular film Kabhi Kabhie, made by her brother in-law Yash Chopra, and had a starring role in Chalte Chalte. Another notable role she played was as a vamp in Karz. She starred in the BBC docu-drama Maharajas, 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. She also made a documentary for Channel 4 in the UK called Living Legend Raj Kapoor. 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 Pater's Award in Australia. Garewal anchored the talk showRendezvous 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 aroused controversy by publicly calling for the Indian government to "carpet-bomb" the training camps in Pakistan. She returned to television with her new talk show India's Most Desirable on Star Plus which would interview only eligible singles, 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: . The site has her voice reading the text. She also has her own channel on YouTube where all her shows and documentaries are uploaded. The channel has received over 40 million views.
