Smita Patil

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was in the early 1970s as a television newscaster on Mumbai Doordarshan which was run by the Indian Government broadcast

Smita Patil was an actress who started her career with television as a newsreader and then went on to the stage with her performance in the theatre and thereafter she joined the Hindi and Marathi films. In a span of just a few years, she had created a niche for herself in the Industry and she was considered one of the finest actresses of her time who had received two National Awards as well as a Filmfare Award and the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest Civilian Honour in 1985. Smita Patil graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune and made her debut in Shyam Benegal’s Charandas Chor in 1975. She became one of the leading actresses of the parallel cinema which brought a new wave movement to the Indian Cinema. She also appeared in mainstream films throughout her short career which was cut short due to her sudden death in childbirth complications in the year 1986. But her roles were most notable for her flawless acting in each of the films she acted in. One of her films was Manthan in 1977, followed by Bhumika in the same year. Aakrosh in 1980, Chakra in 1981, Chidambaram in 1985, Mirch Masala and Ghulami in 1985. Smita Patil belongs to a generation of actresses with contemporaries like Shabana Azmi who were strongly associated with radical political and parallel cinema in the 1970s. Her work includes Shyam Benegal’ and Govind Nihalanni’s Sadgati in 1981, As she forayed into more commercial films. She was discovered by Shyam Benegal when she was a Television Newsreader. She was an alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune in the year 1977. In her films, Smita Patil has always portrayed a character that represents intelligent feminity that stands against an unconventional male-dominant background in the cinema. She has acted in such roles in her films like Bhumika, Umbartha and Bazaar. Smita became famous for her roles as women who is capable and empowered. She remained committed to the small cinema for about five years and she refused commercial film offers initially but around 1977 and 1978 she started with a few commercial films as well. In no time she was accepted by commercial film-makers as Raj Khosla, Ramesh Sippy, and B. R. Chopra who all agreed she was a woman of substance and she was excellent in her work. Her fans grew with her newfound stardom and she was also considered as one of the most glamorous women. In her films, Shakti, and Namak Halaal revealed her unfound boundaries from serious roles to masala films she acted in all with the same ease and confidence till 1984. Her association with the art cinema remained strong. Her strong role In Mirch Masala in 1987 as the Son Bai is still raved about for playing the spirited Spice factory worker who stands up against the lecherous petty officials. On the centenary of the Indian Cinema in 2013, Forbes included her performance in this film as one of the 25th Greatest Acting performances of the Indian Cinema. During the making of her film Chakra, Smita Patil is said to have visited the slums in Mumbai and she got another National Award for her role in this film Besides Hindi films she has also worked in her mother tongue Marathi and did some Bengali, Kannada and Malayalam films. Art Films were her forte but she proved her capability in other regional and commercial films as well. She acted opposite the two superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna between the period 1982 to 1987 and the films went to become super hits. Rajesh Khanna and Smita Patil were paired together for five to six films and were a successful pair on the screen.