Often considered to be one of the finest actors in Indian cinema, Smita Patil died on December 13 at the age of 31 due to childbirth complications. Born in Pune to Maharashtrian politician Shivajirao Girdhar Patil, Smita started her career as a television newsreader in Doordarshan. She soon shifted to political cinema in the 1970s with actors like Shabana Azmi.
Patil started working in parallel cinema with directors like Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Mrinal Sen and Satyajit Ray. In time she forayed to commercial films with Raj Khosla, Ramesh Sippy and BR Chopra in films like Shakti and Namak Halaal.
A two-time National Film Award winner, she also won the best actress Filmfare award for Chakra. On the actor’s death anniversary, here’s looking at 5 of her films that are a must-watch.
Namak Halaal (1982)
The Prakash Mehra film had a star-studded cast that included Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Parveen Babi and Waheeda Rehman, apart from Patil. One of the biggest comedy blockbusters of its time, Patil played Amitabh Bachchan’s love interest whose character Poonam worked in the same hotel, where Amitabh’s character Arjun worked as a bellboy. Patil’s Poonam is one of the best-remembered characters.
Aakrosh (1980)
Starring Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Amrish Puri, the film was directed by Govind Nihalani. The story is of an oppressed peasant whose wife gets raped by a foreman. He is then arrested by the police and made to complete the last rites of his wife, who has committed suicide by then. Turns out the foreman had him arrested to hide his own crime. Smita Patil played the role of the wife.
Chakra (1981)
Smita Patil played the role of Amma, a woman who along with her son Benwa became slum dwellers after they ran away from their village. Amma’s husband had killed a moneylender who tried to rape her. The film chronicles Amma’s life as she takes on multiple lovers, becomes pregnant, suffers a miscarriage and finally shifts to a new slum, showing an exodus of sorts.
Arth (1982)
The semi-autobiographical by Mahesh Bhatt on his relationship with Parveen Babi had Shabana Azmi and Khulbhushan Kharbanda essay the role of a couple, while Patil played the role of the other woman. The film saw Patil’s character have a change of heart when she abandons Kharbanda thinking that it was a mistake breaking Azmi’s marriage.
Mandi (1983)
The satirical comedy is based on the Urdu short story Aanandi by Ghulam Abbas and starred Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Smita Patil. Set around a brothel, the film had Patil play the role of Zeenat, a classical singer who despite living in a brothel is not allowed by the Madame to enter prostitution. The film, however, takes a turn when Zeenat falls for the son of a wealthy man, and through twists of fate, it turns out they are siblings. Patil’s character runs away and her fate is left unknown in the film.
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