Big B remembers late Smita Patil at her biography launch

The same day, writer Maithili Rao will launch her book on the actress in the presence of her sisters Anita Deshmukh and Manya Patil, while NFAI in Pune will organise a two-day film festival that will be attended by Jabbar Patel, Amol Palekar and Mohan Agashe.

“I was in Bangalore shooting for “Coolie” once”.

Regarded among the finest stage and film actresses of her times, Smita Patil appeared in over 80 Hindi and Marathi films in a career that spanned just over a decade. “In fact, it was she who introduced me to Odissi guru Kelucharan Mahapatra under whom I trained”, she says. Smita asked me if I was alright and in good health. Mr. Bachchan also referred to Smita Patil as a dear friend and a great human being. “The next day, I had my accident”.

Seen in attendance were Bollywood stars like Shyam Benegal, Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das, Prahlad Kakkar among many others. The duo shared screen space in films like Namak Halal, Shakti and Ghulami.

Her stupendous performance in the film Arth worked miraculously for the audience as she was herself living that life simultaneously. I had the opportunity of working with her, she looked gentle but she was a strong woman.

“When it comes to do doing cinema (films) with me, she did things that were against her nature like in “Namak Halal” she had to do rain dance with me”. “Yet, of course she was a serious, thinking actress, otherwise how would she have charted such a phenomenal career”.