I was working with Moushumi Chatterjee, who had reduced her workload, so I was free. It was around that time that Mukesh Bhatt called me to work on Other Smita. We worked together on films like Sutradhaar and Aakhir Kyun. Smita and her mother really liked my work. What do I say about her? She was an angel. She was so caring and treated me like family. Unlike today, there was no discrimination. I was very much a part of her family.
I remember she was pregnant and shooting for Waaris in Nashik. It used to be so hot in those days. We took a trip to Shirdi, where she had a bath and then lay down on the floor with her hair still wet. I yelled at her, saying she couldn’t do that in her condition, and made her dry her hair.
I had a parlour in those days, and it used to remain closed on Mondays. She would come over, and I would make Maharashtrian dishes like varan bhaat and potato bhaji. She loved spicy food, but when she got pregnant, I wouldn’t let her eat too much of it. After a hearty meal, she would go into the last room, switch on the AC and fall asleep. She had no nakhras or anything starry about her, despite being such a great artiste. When I hear stories about how stars treat their hairdressers today, I feel so fortunate to have worked with someone like Smita. I would call her Mityama.
Once, she left an envelope containing money for me, and I fired her, saying that our relationship was beyond all that. She was insistent and wouldn’t hear of it. I remember accompanying her to an Asha Bhosle show in Muscat. We got our visas on arrival. I recall Amjad Khan not getting his visa and having to return home.
Since she couldn’t shop on the streets because of the crowds that would gather around her, I remember her sending the organiser with me in the car and asking him to take me shopping. She was that concerned about us. I remember buying something from the Georgette 644 brand and also a gold coin. In those days, it was difficult to bring a gold coin through customs.
Mityama went out of her way to do things for us. She was shooting for a Bengali film in Kolkata, which must have been Akaler Sandhane or Debshishu. I remember a silly co-star who was shooting with her reading her palm and telling her that she wouldn’t live long. In the car, she remarked on how weird he was and said there was no need for him to give her that information.
She once told me at night that she had completed her seventh month of pregnancy. It was 14 September. I used to live in MIG Colony, so I organised a godh bharai ceremony for her at my sister’s house. She lived in Artek Apartments, which was nearby. Many of my friends came. I recall Raj Babbar and his friend Asghar Ali being there, too. Raj and Smita were truly in love. Maa didn’t approve of their relationship because he was a married man.
I never took my two daughters to any shoot. However, when we were shooting for B. Subhash’s Dance Dance, Smita asked me to bring my children along. As luck would have it, my grandmother passed away. My husband called Smita and informed her. She quietly sent me and my children home with her driver, Tiwari, saying, ‘Go home. I’ll manage the shoot here.’ She even walked during the Hope 86 strike while heavily pregnant. It was such a long walk. Halfway through, I forcibly bundled her into the car and took her home.
I was with her throughout her delivery and remember going to the hospital. It wasn’t an easy delivery. I recall them giving her an injection in her spine. I wasn’t happy with the overall treatment. After the baby was born, she was discharged on the seventh day. Her feet were swollen, but she disregarded it. I have two daughters, so she told me, ‘Now Prateik is your son.’ She had decided on her child’s name long before he was born.
I came home and was cleaning my shelves when her cousin called to tell me that Smita wasn’t feeling well. I rushed back to her house. She was reluctant to go to the hospital because Prateik was so small. I told her I would take care of him, and that reassured her enough to go. I was at the hospital when she passed away. Raj sent me home to inform Maa and everyone else. I called her sister Anita, who said she would come. Deepak Sawant and I dressed her up like a bride. It was one of the most heart-rending and depressing moments of my life.
I later left for Canada to be with my two daughters. Whenever I came to India in January, I would meet Maa and Prateik. I met him regularly as a child and would give him a huge chocolate. He was very loving. Of late, though, he hasn’t been in touch.
Smita passed away in 1986. My husband passed away in 1988. If my Mityama were alive, I wouldn’t have felt his loss so deeply. She would have taken care of me.
Also Read: “I Fell in Love With Her Simplicity, Honesty, and Enormous Talent”: Gulshan Grover on Smita Patil
