On her death anniversary, 8 unknown facts about Smita Patil

1. Smita Patil was a newscaster in Marathi on Mumbai Doordarshan when Shyam Benegal who has given Indian cinema some of the most formidable talents, spotted her. The rest as they say is history.

2. Benegal cast Smita in some of her most memorable roles in Manthan and Bhumika. But he clearly gave his other favourite Shabana Azmi a much bigger portion of roles.A fact that Smita deeply resented. The rivalry between the actresses persisted right till her death.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Smita was very close to Amitabh Bachchan until she fell in love with 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.

6. Smita had a premonition about Mr Bachchan’s near-fatal accident in 1982. She called him up and shared her dread with Mr Bachchan and asked him to be careful. Apparently, Smita knew she was going to die young. She told her friends this.

7. Smita did B Subhash’s Dance Dance in 1987 while she was pregnant with her son Pratik Babbar. The script writer wrote in pregnancy for her character to accommodate her growing tummy.

8. 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.