New Delhi: Actress Smita Patil is known to rule the entertainment world. The 31-year-old actress died after the birth of her son Prateik Babbar, but she will always be remembered for her brilliant acting. Her filmography includes not just Hindi but also films in Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam, and Kannada.
On her 67th birth anniversary today, let’s look back to when Mahesh Bhatt compared his daughter Alia Bhatt with Smita Patil. Recently, Alia Bhatt was honoured with the Smita Patil Memorial Award for Best Actor.
Mahesh Bhatt attended the 2016 Smita Patil Festival and spoke candidly about his daughter Alia Bhatt, drawing comparisons between Alia and the late actress. He brought up Alia as an example of a newcomer to the industry.
According to the director, Alia may compete with Smita Patil, a performer who has found early success in both commercial and independent movies.
He told PTI, “There is a new dawn and new energy. There is a new beginning, I must say. I see a lot more actors, including a few regional and parallel cinema actresses and also my daughter Alia Bhatt walking the way this great actor Smita did way back in time. She could act both in commercial and parallel films and not become clichéd.”
He went on to explain more, saying “Why shouldn't I mention my daughter Alia? She has done Highway and also some lighter roles at a very young age. She can do both commercial and experimental films as she has grown up seeing Smita Patil and Shabana Azmi's movies by my production house.”
Mahesh also insisted that his comment should not be limited to Alia alone. He admitted that there were other actresses who had found success in regional cinema.
Talking about Alia’s forthcoming project, she will soon be seen with Gal Gadot in the Netflix espionage thriller ‘Heart of Stone’.