Poland pays rich tribute to Smita Patil; organises Smita Patl retrospect

Rich tributes were paid to the memory of late actress Smita Patil, when the Polish Film Institute and the Indian embassy in Warsaw, with the help of Indian Film Directorate, organized a Smita Patil Retrospect in the Polish capital. The programme coincided with the festival '100 Years of Indian Cinema Week'. "We in Poland are attuned to Bollywood movies such as Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, or Zindgi Na Milegi Dobara… among others. Now we realise the importance of Indian parallel cinema movement in the last twenty five years of the 20th century," said Jacek Bromski, president of the Association of Polish Filmmakers. On the occasion, the organisers screened Smita's famous films like Bhumika, Manthan, Mirch Masala, Sadgati et al. “These Indian movies are no less artistic and realistic than our movies made by Andrzej Wajda, Krzyszt of Zanussi and Roman Polanski. No doubt Smita was a shining star in that age and that is visible from sensitive films,” Bromski added. Initially, Smita started her film career with art films first by Shyam Benegal and later by Govind Nihalani. Addressing the audience at the inauguration ceremony, Govind Nihalani said, "Smita was one of the most talented actresses of her time. She was very sensitive used to go deep in her role without much rehearsal. Both in her personal life as well as in cinematic life she was very honest and candid. She had tremendous commitment to social cinema as well as to Indian society." Later, she did a few mainstream films like Namak Halal with Amitabh Bachchan, Aakhir Kyun with Rajesh Khanna and Anand Aur Anand with Dev Anand. Smita's sister Manya Patil, who is the president of Smita Patil Foundation, came specially for these two occasions.