'She took somebody’s husband': Aruna Raje’s painful truths about Smita Patil’s turbulent love life

New Delhi: She was beautiful, bold, and full of heart — yet behind the shining screen presence of Smita Patil lay a story of pain, truth, and struggle. On her death anniversary on December 13, filmmaker Aruna Raje remembered her close friend with rare honesty — speaking about Smita’s art, her inner conflicts, and why she once advised the legendary actress to follow Hema Malini’s example.

“Smita was deeply committed to her work,” Raje recalled in an interview with News9. “She believed in authenticity. A natural actor, she was spontaneous and instinctive. And it is because of that she could touch the highest emotional points of the audience. People connected with her because they could see themselves in her.

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”Despite fame, Smita remained humble. “She was a simple girl before she became an actor, and she remained the same even after fame,” Raje said. “Many people lose themselves after a little success, but not Smita. She was grounded and solid, compassionate, but also capable of calling a spade a spade.

”Raje shared that their friendship was built on a deep understanding. “We were two sides of the same coin,” she said. “I was a woman whose husband had left her, and she was a woman who had taken somebody’s husband.”Smita’s relationship with actor Raj Babbar caused emotional turmoil.

“He said he was getting divorced… But when Smita got pregnant, the divorce didn’t happen. That was when she became deeply unhappy,” Raje recalled. “You can’t move forward or backwards in such situations.”That’s when Raje advised her to look at Hema Malini. “I told her to look at Hema Malini and how she has managed the situation so beautifully,” the filmmaker said.

“I told her that she could have a life of her own and also be someone the whole world can look up to.” But Smita wanted things to be “right,” especially as she stood for women’s empowerment. Raje called Smita her “soulmate,” remembering her plans to direct and raise her child. “We had even made plans to work together… She was my first choice for Rihaai, which was later done by Hema Malini,” she said.“Smita was amazing — not perfect, but honest. Deeply human,” Raje concluded. “And that’s why she still stays with us, decades after she moved on from this planet.”