'Real man shares wife's household work load'

"It's in everybody's mind that this load sharing and this household chores need to be shared, do the laundry at home and help in household chores," Tagore told reporters at a promotional event.

"Now we are all working women. Things are now changing and now we are ready and we want men to come forward and share the load. It's not going to make you less of a man. I have seen Saif (Ali Khan, her son)...when he became father (how he shared the load)," the National Award-winning actress said.

"To be a real man, I think you have to be supportive of each other and to be a real woman you have to be supportive of your man, and the man has to do the same thing, only then he would be a real man," Sharmila said. Sharmila's daughter and actress Soha Ali Khan said men can certainly do household chores.

"If I can do it, men can certainly do it. It's interesting now to talk about equality in the home and involving men in household chores such that women don't have to over extend themselves doing both her job and coming home and doing all the household chores," Soha said.

"So, that kind of sharing the load is something that I have seen in my family growing up. Amma (Sharmila) was a working wife and a mother. I have seen my father (late Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi) being very supportive of that and laundry was always my father's department," she added.