Smita Patil's 63th Birth Anniversary: The Cinema Goddess Who Dazzled Like No Other!

Had Smita Patil been alived today, she would have turned 63! On her birthday anniversary today, we throw some light on some of the rare known insights of her life

Updated: Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 10:19 [IST]

In the age of glamorous actresses like Parveen Babi, Zeenat Aman and others, Smita Patil was a league of her own. From a TV announcer to become an actress to reckon with, her journey is filled with milestones and films which would make any actress envious. Her eyes spoke volume and each time she appeared on the celluloid, her impeccable acting prowess made the audience fall in love with her even more. With a career spanning only a decade, she was the youngest star honored with a Padmashri and the first Indian actress to be honored with a retrospective abroad.

Had Smita Patil been alived today, she would have turned 63! On her birthday anniversary today, we throw some light on some of the rare known insights of her life-

Smita Was A Simple, Unpretentious Actress With No Starry Airs

Her mother Vidyatai Patil recalled in one of her interviews, Once she had to catch a flight to Goa to shoot for Bhumika. That day my maid was absent. Quickly, she ran into the kitchen and washed all the utensils. She never depended on a driver; she had no issues washing her car and driving away.

Even after she became famous there was no change in her attitude. She used to dress like a bhikaran (a tramp). She'd wear a pair of jeans, pull on a kurta (even her father's), Kolhapuri chappals, tie her hair into a bun and rush out. She never needed a mirror.

Once she was to meet a well-known editor for an interview at a restaurant. He couldn't recognise her. He kept waiting for ‘actress Smita Patil', till she introduced herself. They both burst out laughing."

Heart Of Gold

Her mother further reveals, "Years after her death, we met a lady whose husband (a clapper boy) she had helped. She recalled, ‘Smitaji emptied her purse and gave my husband money to get a tin roof so that my children would be protected in the monsoon'."

She Was Destined To Become An Actress

Speaking about it in one of her earlier interviews, Smita opened up, "It just fell in my lap. I was working on television as an announcer and I started getting commercial offers. At first, I just kept looking down and saying no because I had no idea what the industry was. I was brought up very strictly. I was involved in social work and as a student I never saw films."

Smita Had A Fun Side To Her As Well

She shared a beautiful relationship with actress Ashalata (who played her sister-in-law in Umbartha). She lovingly called her Mau.

Once it was pouring, she asked Ashalata to get ready and drove her at neck-break speed to Khandala, pulling the brakes loudly at the Duke's Nose peak.

A terrified Ashalata told her, "Smita, I don't have insurance!" To which she laughed and said, "Imagine the fun if tomorrow the headlines carry, ‘Smita and Ashalata died in a car crash'!"

Juggling Between Commercial & Parallel Cinema

"There are very few actresses who can look young and do mature roles as well. Shabana and me, baaki koi hai nahin. So whenever you need to look dignified in a mature role, you put a little grey in your hair and there you are," the actress said in an old Filmfare interview.