Mahesh Bhatt revealed how signing Smita Patil for the role of Kavita Sanyal in the epoch-defining Arth was Shabana Azmi’s idea. “It was Shabana for the wife Pooja’s part from the start. I was thinking of Rohini Hattangadi for the other woman Kavita’s role. It was Shabana who suggested Smita for the role of Kavita and Rohini to play the house help,” he said.
Mahesh Bhatt on Smita Patil’s misunderstanding after shooting Arth, “She would not meet or speak to me”
“I remember going over to meet Smita with the offer on the outdoor set of Tajurba,” said Bhatt. “She heard me out in rapt attention. Then she asked, ‘You want me to play Kavita? Have you told Shabana about it?’ I told her it was Shabana’s idea. Smita immediately agreed to do the film. ‘If she has sent you then I am doing it.’”
During the shooting, Smita’s insecurity about her role surfaced. “By the time Arth was shooting, Smita’s stature had grown. She had already signed two films Shakti and Namak Halaal with the mighty Amitabh Bachchan and she began to feel her fans would be disappointed. I recall when we were shooting that iconic sequence where the wife, after one too many, confronts her husband’s mistress at a party. Just before shooting, Smita had reservations about her character being abused in full public view. ‘Is this necessary?’ she quietly asked me. I reminded that she knew exactly what was in store. Smita went through the sequence displaying such exemplary restrain under pressure,” said Bhatt.
After Arth released, Smita stopped talking to Mahesh Bhatt. “She would not meet or speak to me,” he said. “She had heard I had chopped off some of her best scenes to Shabana’s advantage. I had done no such thing.”
The ice broke unexpectedly one day. “I was at a meeting with writer Vijay Tendulkar at a suburban hotel when he suggested that I leave as Smita was supposed to arrive any moment,” said Bhatt. “Instead of taking the lift down I took the stairs, and guess whom I ran into on the stairs? Smita saw me coming down the stairs and froze. She tried to walk past me. But I stopped her. There was no way I was going to let go this godsent opportunity to clear the air. Smita refused to talk to me. I insisted she watch the film before forming her opinions. She finally relented.”
What happened next, said Bhatt saab, is historic. “After seeing Arth, she drove down with me to Shabana’s home and congratulated Shabana for her performance. Such was the generosity of this kindred spirit who was with us for a brief while. Then she was gone,” he said.
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