Two significant figures in Indian parallel film, Smita Patil and Shabana Azmi, who are regarded as Shyam Benegal’s protégés, did not always agree. Their antagonism is well known, and these two contemporaries were set against one another. The actress discussed her rivalry with the late Smita Patil in an exclusive interview with Jitesh Pillaai, Editor-in-Chief of Filmfare, for In The Ring With Filmfare. The seasoned actress disclosed during the talk that Raj Babbar and Javed Akhtar attempted to patch things up between them but were unsuccessful.
“We made a very feeble attempt to put the feud behind us with Javed and Raj Babbar, but that never happened. It is not like the press created it all. There was definitely an inherent rivalry.” “I remember Javed saying that we are from similar backgrounds and do the same kind of work, we should be friends and on the same side.”
The actress said, “There were lots of imaginary roles that she thought I had snatched from her, but it was nothing like that. We were Shyam Benegal’s favourite and he was very clear on who to take for which film.” Azmi also disclosed that she was supposed to do the film Manthan, which eventually went to Smita Patil, in response to a question concerning Smita Patil allegedly losing out on films to Shabana.
She said, “Strangely, I was supposed to do Manthan, the role that Smita did, and she was supposed to do the role that Abha Dhulia did. Some crazy thing happened, and Shyam never forgave me for it. He wanted me to be there for 32 days and at that time, I was working in a lot of mainstream cinema. So I told Shyam that it is a 10-day work and I will give him 16. He was so offended that he said you should leave the film. Strangely, at that time, Smita was supposed to do Kanneshwara Rama with MS Sathyu, and her days coincided with her B.A exams. After she left, Sathyu came to me at the last minute and said, “She got a valid reason, and we are all going on the sets, so you do it.” So, I did the film. And Shyam got more offended at that. This mess-up happened.”
Shabana Azmi then also went on to say how in Arth, Smita was supposed to do a special appearance, but she played another role. In the film, there was a scene where Azmi had to use crass dialogue, and Smita advised her against it. However, she went ahead and did it after the film’s director, Mahesh Bhatt’s then-wife Lorraine aka Kiran, asked her to do it. So, there were a lot of moments of tension between Azmi and Patil. The veteran actress then admitted that she regrets saying certain things about Patil. She said, “What was broken was never repaired. But her parents were nice to me, and my parents were nice to her. In a strange way, after she passed away, I sort of became a surrogate Smita to her parents. Which baffled me, but it completed the circle. So I regret that I said uncharitable things about Smita. I really regret it. I wish I hadn’t done it.”
Smita Patil passed away on December 13, 1986, at the age of 31 after giving birth to her son Prateik.
