“Smita Patil was a microcosm of India: traditional and modern, strong and fragile, confident and vulnerable. I think it’s these contradictions that were both her strength and her weakness.”—Shabana Azmi

One of the great Indian actresses of stage and screen, Smita Patil shone a light on the lives of ordinary, working-class women through her fiercely enigmatic yet emotionally fragile performances. From Mrinal Sen and Shyam Benegal to Satyajit Ray and G. Aravindan, Patil worked with many of the best filmmakers in Indian cinema. Directors were drawn to her emotional authenticity and sense of adventure when it came to choosing roles. For regular cinema-going audiences, her beautiful yet ordinary looks—ordinary, that is, according to the beauty ideals of the day—and radical everywoman roles offered the relish of recognition: finally, there was someone on screen who represented the experiences of working people. Some of Patil’s most wonderful performances were also her most socially conscious; she consistently chose roles that held up a mirror up to society’s prejudices and its treatment of the oppressed. At home in the arthouse, Patil was an influential figure in the Parallel Cinema movement, but she didn’t shy away from the glitz and gloss of the mainstream either. With a career cut tragically short following her death in childbirth in 1986, her life might have been an enigma, but her performances speak for themselves. A microcosm of India, Patil was unique, contradictory, polemical, and modern. To celebrate the anniversary of her birth on 17th October, we bring you a series of her most ravishing performances. Happy birthday Smita.