Dilip Prabhavalkar remembers Smita Talwalkar

Veteran Marathi actor and costar of late SmitaTalwalkar’s highly acclaimed film Chaukat Raja (1991), DilipPrabhavalkar remembers the multi-faceted woman that will continue to inspire many.
“Smita was an actor, director and producer. Very few people know that Paresh Rawal was to play the lead role in Chaukat Raja. It was Smita’s decision to cast me at the eleventh hour, when that didn’t work out.I was to play her husband’s role instead, which later went to Dilip Kulkarni. I didn’t have sufficient time for preparation and so my portrayal of the mentally challenged boy, which won me the state award, was purely spontaneous. She then cast me in a perverted villainous role in Marathi serial Salsud.
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She had faith in my abilities. She was responsible for getting the best out of me and giving me opportunities that proved my versatility. From starting her career as a news reader to landing in films…she was a go-getter, who rose like a phoenix from the ashes in difficult times. She bravely battled cancer and showed immense strength and determination to get back to work, which she did a couple of times. Even this time, we expected her to come out of it but sadly that didn’t happen.
Also, she never let the stress of being a producer overshadow her role as an actor. She was extremely caring of her actors. In Hindus, women generally do not enter the cemetery. Thus, to give company to a female actor (Sulabha Deshpande) for a scene in Chaukat Raja, where Smita wasn’t even required as an actor, she still came along. She gave scope to newcomers and loved to face challenges. She was a trouble-shooter of sorts.
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In her last days, she didn’t want to meet us. Guess she didn’t want anyone to see her in that state as she wanted us to remember her as the ever-smiling brave Smita, which we will.