Avatar Gill: Smita Patil got him a 500 sq ft home

For actor Avatar Gill, a 500 sq ft flat in Mumbai is more than an address. In a new interview with Filmfare, he says that home exists because Smita Patil decided to help a struggling colleague – and refused to let the paperwork die.

A friendship that began with mistaken identity

Gill recalls that he and Smita Patil worked together in Ghulami, Waaris, Raahi and Thikaana. Their bond, however, started with a mix-up at Essel Studios. Smita walked up to him, chatted warmly and backslapped him, all while thinking he was Waaris director Ravinder Peepat. Several people called Gill “Peepat saab,” and when the mistake became clear, both laughed. He credits that moment with starting their friendship.

One film they made together, Sagar Sarhadi’s Tere Shehar Mein, never released; Gill says the producers and director did not see eye to eye. Waaris, by contrast, was a long five-year journey.

The long road to a one-bedroom flat

Gill says the housing idea came from Sadashiv Amrapurkar while they shared a room during Vinod Chopra’s Khamosh. Because Smita’s father was a politician, Amrapurkar suggested she could get him a flat through the Chief Minister’s quota for artistes. Gill gathered recommendation letters from Shatrughan Sinha, Shabana Azmi, Vijay Tendulkar and Manmohan Krishna, and took the papers to her Bandra home.

What followed was a year of waiting. Gill remembers that Vasantdada Patil was then Maharashtra Chief Minister, but the request never moved. He finally confronted Smita at Yash Chopra’s Girnar house during an Angaaray shoot. She called her father, fixed a meeting, and the three went to the CM’s office. The file, however, had been left at home. Smita quickly asked for a letterhead, had Gill fill in a fresh application on the spot, and requested a flat in the artistes’ quota.

He was allotted a one-bedroom, 500-square-foot flat with a large terrace. Gill wanted a two-bedroom, but she told him to take it: waiting for a bigger one would cost another six months. He says the sanction still needed a push when the CM was transferred, so Smita called the CM’s PA – and found a doctor’s role for him in Raman Kumar’s Raahi to keep things moving.

• Films they shared: Ghulami, Waaris, Raahi, Thikaana
• Waaris timeline: five years in the making
• The flat: one bedroom, 500 sq ft, with a large terrace

Why the memory still matters

Gill says Waaris was Smita’s favourite film and that she acted in it for free. He also recalls the climax being shot at Dubash Bungalow, the property now known as Mannat. She was seven or eight months pregnant, and when he refused to push her for a scene, she told him to simply pretend.

The last memory is one of shock. During the Hope 86 programme, where a Nukkad skit was being directed by Amjad Khan’s brother Imtiaz, the cast heard Smita had slipped into a coma. Around 100 people went to the hospital before she passed away. For Gill, she remains a “muhphat soul” with no pretences. As he puts it, “The house I live in is thanks to that angel.”

Source: Filmfare