Having known Simi Garewal as  a very dear friend in the past (when I was  new to the entertainment industry),  she  introduced  me to many stalwarts including Sunil Dutt and Hrishikesh Mukherjee), I can vouch for this: Simi speaks her heart out with  friends but never, repeat NEVER, talks  about the  men in her life. So I  never really got a chance to ask her about her luminous liaison, or  the ravishing  rendezvous, if  you will,  with  Nawab Pataudi Mansoor Ali Khan.

Simi Garewal with Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore

However the fact is, he was among the handpicked exclusive  eligible men she dated  in the  past. This was before the  super-eligible Nawab  met the gorgeous Sharmila Tagore. The  moment  Pataudi met Satyajit Ray’s discovery Sharmila, he  knew instantly that she  was the woman for him. But  before Sharmila and her  dimpled charms  swept the Nawab away, Simi Garewal was  a regular feature at  Pataudi’s cricket matches, wagging off more tongues  than the couple could handle. Mercifully back then, there  was  no  active media to track down the stolen trysts and  furtive glances  between the two very  beautiful  people from  cinema and cricket. Simi and Pataudi didn’t have to go through the constant scrutiny and  censure that Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli today had  to endure.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore

Close friends  reveal Pataudi was  “very serious” about Simi  until he  met Sharmila and then it was  love at  first sight. No turning back, no more flings. True gentleman that he was, Pataudi apparently went to Simi’s home  and informed her that whatever  was there between  them was  over , that he had found  the  woman he wanted to marry. The  brief liaison was  the talk of tinsel town  for a  very long time. To Simi Garewal goes the  credit/discredit for being  the  first  Bollywood diva to be associated  with a  superstar-cricketer. By being at the  pavilion, she set off  the trend  of Bollywood beauties blowing kisses at the star player  on the field. We  could say that over the years while  our cricketers  played the field, Bollywood divas found the men of their match.