"Smita was a victim.not a villain"

Manya Patil-Seth tells Farhana Farook why her late sister Smita Patil was a tragic contradiction – a pioneer of an actor but a prey of emotions

- Smita Patil

There was something about Smita Patil's eyes. When she relayed the Marathi news on Doordarshan, they set the black-and-white screen ablaze. The same earthy exotica made her the mascot of parallel cinema helmed by Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Jabbar Patel, Ketan Mehta, Mrinal Sen... between the '70s - '80s. An interpreter of maladies, her compelling oeuvre made her the first Asian actor to have a retrospective of her films beamed in Paris, hosted by Greek filmmaker Costa-Gavras. Uncannily, the parallel movement somewhere lost momentum after her abrupt end. What sabotaged a path-breaking career and life was perhaps the Shakespearean 'fatal flaw', her inexplicable dichotomy. The woman of agency on screen, made some dicey personal choices. Her marriage to an already married Raj Babbar was a pebbled path. Her shocking passing away, just days after giving birth, on December 13, 1986 at 31 ended her meteoric tenure. Decades on, Smita Patil remains as eternal as eternity - her emotional connection alive with audiences across ages. She lives on... in those collyrium-contoured eyes that entail an incomplete story. In her work that venerates the woman - imperfect but invincible. In her tragic exit that defies closure. In son Prateik... That her memories are inextinguishable is evident in sister Manya-Patil Seth's post on Instagram which reads, "Those who are never forgotten don't need to be remembered." The pain is as plain when she says, "A part of Smita's life was so glorious.... yet another so excruciating. A decision that destroyed her..." Manya Patil-Seth responds to our questions in a heart-to-heart conversation... Excerpts:

SOUL TWINS