Smita Patil: The smoldering, raging ball of fire destined to be doused young

Smita Patil died young, very young. If she had lived, she would have been 67 on October 17.  In her brief, burnished lifespan, she did some brilliant work that will live forever. Her posthumous release Mirch Masala is regarded as her best by her fans.  Smita Patil ’s Sonbai in Ketan Mehta’s Mirch Masala (1987) is  projected  as a  ‘woman as prey’ who, when under attack, had no choice but to pray. Until Smita Patil in this film, who refuses to give in to the powerful subedar’s lurid leering advances. The metaphor of the chili factory as the fortress for female protection showcased Patil’s powerful performance.

But I think she was more elemental and authentic in Shyam Benegal’s Bhumika. A powerful bio-pic on the 1940s’ Marathi actress Hansa Wadkar. Benegal sees her life through the various men who tried to own and smother her spirit. Smita Patil plays the protagonist with a fluent mix of dilemma and sensuality. She had remarkable male support in Amol Palekar , Anant Nag and Amrish Puri. Benegal’s most seductive film.

Smita Patil was first seen in a FTII diploma film directed by Arun Khopkar called Teevra Madhyam. There was a long shot in which she was playing the tanpura. She was born for the camera. It lingered over her face and she held it captive without the slightest effort.

Her debut  in Shyam Benegal’s Nishant was a difficult part for one as young as her. In the film, her husband, played by Naseeruddin Shah gets enamoured by Shabana Azmi, kidnaps her and brings her home. Smita smolders in jealousy, anger, hurt and rage but doesn’t say anything. Her face expresses it all.

It was clearly an antagonistic relationship between the two women in Nishant, as well as in real life. It is to Shyam Benegal’s credit and understanding of the complexities of feudal societies, ably aided by Vijay Tendulkar’s script that two small but significant scenes stand out. Smita comes into Shabana’s room to offer her food. On the surface matter of fact, slightly resentful too, Smita played that sequence with such a layer of empathy that the plight of the two women bonded together through a patriarchal feudal structure.

As Shabana very  correctly says, India is a country that lives in several centuries simultaneously and is full of contradictions. Smita was a microcosm of India -traditional and modern, strong and fragile, confident and vulnerable.

Smita rode a motorbike like a professional and played volleyball like a champion. But she was also very feminine and deeply traditional, at times easily intimidated. Smita Patil was a newscaster in Marathi on Mumbai Doordarshan when Shyam Benegal, who has given Indian cinema some of the most formidable talent, spotted her. The rest, as they say is  history. Manoj Kumar claims he offered Smita a role before Benegal, after hearing her read the news.

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.

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. 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.

Smita was very close to Amitabh Bachchan until she fell in love 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. Smita had a premonition about Mr Bachchan’s near-fatal accident in 1982. She called him up and shared her dread with Mr Bachchan anda sked him to be careful. Apparently, Smita knew she was going to die young. She told her friends this.

After Smita’s death, Shabana Azmi offered to dub for Smita in Waaris. But it was Rekha who got the  privilege. The same Rekha who allegedly had a scandalous fling with Smita’s husband Raj Babbar.

I wish I could say her son Prateik is carrying his mother’s legacy forward. Sadly, he is not. Much of the work that Prateik is doing would have made Smita cringe. But then, Prateik  could say the same about his mother in Badle Ki Aag, Tajurba and Dil-e-Nadaan.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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