She hardly had the conventional Bollywood looks and she didn’t ooze sensuality in the trademark filmi style. Smita Patil displayed raw appeal that was unapologetic yet conventional, earthy but intriguing. We remember the powerhouse of talent, 25 years after her death.

From a television reader to art house cinema, Smita was ordained to be in front of the camera. It was a time when the portrayal of women in hindi cinema was fast changing, commercial cinema had names like Parveen Babi and Zeenat Aman who represented the bold, urban milieu.

A blazing talent
Smita vaulted to fame with the milestone movie Bhumika, playing Marathi actor Hansa Wadkar in the latter’s biopic. That was in 1977, three years after her debut in Mere Saath Chal. She made her mark as Usha who is in search of the right man, grappling with a claustrophobic marriage and a film career that she continues with much reluctance. Bhumika’s Usha is still hailed as one of the most powerful female characters to be portrayed on silver screen, in the likes of the female leads in Mehboob Khan’s Mother India and Satyajit Ray’s Charulata.

Senior film critic Bhawana Somaaya says, “According to me, her best performances were Bhumika directed by Shyam Benegal and Ketan Mehta’s Mirch Masala. She played centre stage in both these films and lent a special magic to the characters.”

It was Benegal who spotted her when she was a newsreader with Doordarshan, Bombay. As Shabana Azmi’s contemporary, Smita worked with Shyam Benegal in an array of landmark films that include Nishant, Manthan, Mandi and Kondura.

Commercial cinema didn’t fail to lure Smita, with hits like Shakti and Namak Halal. But she always remained in the centre of art films. If it was Bhumika that gave the rise in her career graph, in Chakra, she yet again proved that the high was meant to be sustained, with another realistic portrayal of a slum dweller. Not a surprise that both the roles fetched her national awards. She was awarded the Padma Shri for her contribution to Indian cinema in 1985.
Smita the person
Smita’s sister Manya Patil Seth says her sister always chose roles that reflected reality and made a conscious effort to alter her screen image to mirror her actual self. “Smita often picked roles that reflected some of her personal beliefs. It was the angst against being typecast in a traditional mould, where women often are unable to find their true expressions or talents. She wanted to alter that image to a more realistic one. Where women too are and can be the architects of their destiny. In real life she faced as many challenges as her on screen characters,” she says.

But did she feel prepared for the media glare on her personal life in the later part of her life? No, admits Manya and continues, “She was not prepared and did not want to numb herself either. She chose to feel passionately till the end. That was her uniqueness. She would not succumb.”

Her son Prateik, an emerging actor who was a few days old when his mother passed away in 1986, does bear a striking resemblance to his famous mother. Manya says, “His vulnerability, his spontaneity and his screen presence are like his mother’s.”
The family is planning another retrospective of her works in mid 2012, after a few prints are restored.

Twenty five years since her death, several industry experts have reiterated that void she left behind is yet to be filled. “It is not fair to compare as every artist is also a product of their times. But, fair to say that one has yet to see such a visibly passionate and vulnerable actor,” says Manya. 

By Janani Sampath