Biography of Smita Patil

(1955 - December 13, 1986)

Smita Patil was one of the finest actresses of Indian cinema. Born in Pune in 1955 in Maharashtra, she studied at a Marathi medium school. Her first confrontation with the camera in 1970's initiated her in the art movement in Hindi Cinema. In her very first film, 'Nishaant' (1975), Smita was pitted against Shabana Azmi.

Smita sprang to the limelight with Benegal's 'Manthan’ in 1976. She won the National Award for the Best Actress for the film 'Bhumika' and repeated her effort in the film 'Chakra'.

With Govind Nihalani, she worked in the extremely intense ‘Aakrosh’, where she played the role of a tribal woman. She won many new fans with the blockbuster ‘Namak Halal’ opposite Amitabh Bachchan. She was pitted against Shabana Azmi in ‘Arth'. By mid-1980's Smita was regularly paired with Rajesh Khanna in films like ‘Aakhir Kyon', ‘Amrit’ and ‘Nazrana'. She played the role of fiery Sonbai in Mirch Masala”. She died in 1986.