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A legend bids goodbye!

Sharmila Taliculam

Shobhana Samarth, the actress known for her legendary beauty, succumbed to cancer today. Born Saroj Shilotri, she was 84 when she passed away at a private hospital in Pune after a prolonged illness.

She is survived by two daughter, (her elder daughter, Nutan, passed away a few years ago), a son and seven grandchildren, including Mohnish Bahl and Kajol, who recently married Ajay Devgan.

Her surviving daughter, Tanuja, and son Jaideep were at her bedside when the end came a little before noon.

Shobhana had been suffering from cancer and had been admitted to the Inlaks And Budhrani Hospital in Pune a month ago. However, her condition continued to deteriorate despite the operation she underwent 15 days ago. The cancer had progressed to her spine, say family sources.

The only daughter of banker P S Shilotri, Shobhana made her first foray into the celluloid world at the age of 18 with a Marathi film, Vilasi Ishwar (1934).

This was followed by Do Deewane, a film in Gujarati and Hindi, where she co-starred with Motilal. After the birth of her eldest daughter, Nutan, she acted in Hindi films like Kokila and Pati Patni.

Best known for her various enactments as Sita, Shobhana played the character first in 1941 in the Marathi film, Bharat Milan, which was directed by Vijay Bhatt.

She also played Sita in Ram Rajya, which also produced and directed by Bhatt. It is said Ram Rajya was the only film Mahatma Gandhi had ever seen in his life. Ram Ban and Ram Vivah were some of the other films where she played Sita.

She also acted with other top stars like Prithviraj Kapoor, with whom she co-starred in Nal Damayanti.

The era of mythological films ended around 1950. Shobhana then took to producing her own films. She launched Nutan in Hamari Beti and then produced Chabili for Tanuja.

Shobhana's last rites were held in Pune at 1700 hours, IST. Gautam Rajadhyaksha, a close family friend who could not make it for the funeral, recalls a few moments from her life…

"Shobhana came from a very cultured and well-to-do family. In those days, people like her did not act in films. But she thought that if Durga Khote could enter films and still maintain her respect and dignity, she could do the same. She wasn’t an actress of substance, but she was known for her beauty.

"I've even heard that Gandhiji had seen only one film in his entire life and that was Shobhana's Ram Rajya, where she plays Sita. She launched her daughter Nutan in Hamari Beti. In fact, both her daughters acted in the film, but its main aim was to launch Nutan who was only 14 then.

"Shobhana helped groom Nutan's career. She helped her choose films. Which is why Nutan did films with people like Amiya Chakravarty and Bimal Roy. Tanuja entered films when she was 21, but she was a natural and didn’t need much help from Shobhana.

"Shobhana was known to never squander her money. Instead, she invested it wisely. She did the same with her daughters's money.

"She was never judgmental about morals. She was a very liberal and open-minded person and would practise what she preached. She gave her daughters the same freedom she had, but she also taught them to take responsibility for their actions.

"Many of the actresses in those days smoked, but never did so openly. Shobhana, on the other hand, was never known to hide anything. Even her affair with Motilal wasn't never hidden. They were considered a sterling couple since he was also very erudite and cultured.

"Despite separating from her husband, her relations with him were good and friendly. In fact, when he passed away, she was right by his side, looking after him. He was present during the weddings of both her daughters; even their kanyadaan was done by him.

"She preferred living alone in her home in Lonavala. She hated Bombay, saying it was like a prison. That is one of the reasons why she shifted to Pune when she fell ill."

With inputs from UNI

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