The late Smita Patil was among one of the most gracious, talented and beautiful talents that Bollywood had ever produced. Smita started her career as a newsreader; however, fate had some other plans and she soon shifted to the world of cinema. The evergreen star has worked with a list of renowned filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Mrinal Sen and Satyajit Ray. As for films, Smita has featured in an array of classics like Namak Halal, Aakrosh, Chakra, Arth and Mandi among various others. Unfortunately, the actress breathed her last due to childbirth complications, just two weeks after delivering her younger son, Prateik Babbar. On Smita Patil's 34th death anniversary, here's presenting a list of unknown facts in regards to her personal and professional lives.
1. Smita Patil was a newscaster in Marathi on Mumbai Doordarshan when Shyam Benegal, who has given Indian cinema some of the most formidable talents, spotted her. The rest, as they say, is history.
2. Benegal cast Smita in some of her most memorable roles in Manthan and Bhumika. But he clearly gave his other favourite Shabana Azmi the much bigger portion of roles. A fact that Smita deeply resented. The rivalry between the actresses persisted right till her death.
3. One major filmmaker who worked with Smita and not Shabana was Govind Nihalani who was once quoted as saying he would never work with “that rat”, referring to Shabana’s uneven teeth.
4. Smita desperately wanted to make it in mainstream Hindi films, though she was visibly uncomfortable doing the song-and-dance routine. After filming the rain song Aaj rapat jayen in Namak Halaal with Amitabh Bachchan she went home and wept bitterly in her mother’s lap.
5. Smita was very close to Amitabh Bachchan until she fell in love with Raj Babbar and married him. But before that, she would often drop in at Big B’s residence unannounced. They did two films Namak Halaal and Shakti together.
6. Smita had a premonition about Mr. Bachchan’s near-fatal accident in 1982. She called him up and shared her dread with Mr. Bachchan and asked him to be careful. Apparently, Smita knew she was going to die young. She told her friends this.
7. Smita did B Subhash’s Dance Dance in 1987 while she was pregnant with her son Pratik Babbar. The scriptwriter wrote in pregnancy for her character to accommodate her growing tummy.
8. After Smita’s death, Shabana Azmi offered to dub for Smita in Waaris. But it was Rekha who got the privilege. Rekha allegedly had a fling with Smita’s husband Raj Babbar.
Image source: IMDb