A chance encounter with Prateik’s Bhumika

Prateik was just couple of weeks old when he lost his mother,actress Smita Patil,who died due to medical complications. So his mother’s movies became Prateik’s way of knowing her. “She made the women characters she played very important and relevant. Through her sincerity and honesty,she gave them a voice. Her presence on screen is so strong,you will end up noticing just her. That is the power of an actress and you cannot imbibe these traits. You have to just have it,” says the proud son as he remembers his mother on her 25th death anniversary on Tuesday.

During her 11-year-long film career,Patil acted in over 75 Hindi and Marathi films,bagged two National awards for Bhumika and Chakra,and received the Padma Shri. For Prateik,however,her roles in Mirch Masala and Chakra remain most memorable. “In Mirch Masala,she was fiery and had oodles of attitude. In Chakra,I loved the way she portrayed a slum lady so realistically,” says Prateik,who was brought up by his maternal grandparents and did not quite grow up with a dose of Patil’s films. He reconnected with his mother’s films only recently. He has watched most of her films and is in awe of her. “What amazes me the most is that she could get into her character so well that Smita Patil became invisible,” he adds.

For Prateik,she was also one of those actresses who changed the rules of the game in Bollywood. In the late ’70s and ’80s,when there was a clear demarcation between the parallel cinema movement and commercial cinema,she dabbled in both with ease. After starting her career with movies like Manthan and Bhumika,it was Ramesh Sippy’s Shakti that convinced her to bite the bait and try her hand at commercial films. Prateik,however,believes that there was no role that she couldn’t do. “When asked to portray a villager,she could look like the poorest of villagers,or in a film which required her to look contemporary she looked the most glamourous,” he says. But her biggest contribution,states Prateik,is “she made the ordinary,poor,simple women also look glamourous and powerful”.

Prateik,who made a debut with a small role in Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na in 2008,has been seen in as many as four films this year. Much like his mother,he too has chosen the road less travelled. Ask him about it and he says,“I want to imbibe everything she had — her grit,passion,range as an actor and,most importantly,her ability to get into a character so convincingly and give it her best.”