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'Everyone loved her'
Tributes for the veteran actress Dina Pathak from her friends
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Lata Khubchandani
Friday October 11 saw the demise of one of India's most genial artistes, Dina Pathak.
Most remembered for her zest for life and never-say-die enthusiasm, Dina Pathak was a veteran of the stage, films and television.
Here, friends and well-wishers from the film industry pay their tributes:
Farooque Shaikh, actor
Oh God! This is very sad. She was a very sweet lady, apart from being a very talented and versatile artiste. I have known her for along time. She and I belong to the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA). We have worked together.
I am in America now and have not met her for some time. I am in Indianapolis with Shabana Azmi doing a play. I am very sorry to hear this.
I have worked with her daughter Supriya. Dinaji was extremerly talented and had old-world values which are now so rare --- a thing of the past. She was very sweet.
Ramesh Talwar, director:
I have travelled with Dinaji to IPTA conferences in Agra. She was very sweet, very jovial, very caring. We were juniors at the time, but she never made us feel so.
She would play cards with us and joke and talk as if she were just another artiste. I have watched all her plays, many in Gujarati, and have enjoyed her films.
In 1946, IPTA was doing street plays and she was always part of them. She did a role in Dharti Ke Lal, an IPTA film. She would regale us with so many incidents of the time --- how they would do plays without being paid; how everyone would contribute 2 paise each; how they would stage plays with the money collected from the cast...
We loved her company. Her contribution to the arts would fill books and books. In each and every film that she did, she left her stamp.
She must have worked in over 200 films, and so many plays in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati. She was so versatile.
Naseer [son-in-law and actor Naseeruddin Shah] is not here. Only Ratna is in town. The funeral will be at Shivaji Park [Mumbai] around 10.30 am Saturday.
A K Hangal, actor
I haven't seen her for a year now --- she couldn't even walk properly. But I have known her a long time.
I saw Dina first at an IPTA conference. After I settled in Mumbai, we we worked together in many plays. Then she formed a professional Gujarati group of her own, after which she was no longer with IPTA.
We then worked together in many films, mainly Basu Chatterjee's films. We also worked in Yehi Hai Zindagi, a television serial. She was also president of The All India Women's Conference.
I remember Garam Hawa, in which there was this 90 year old character. Dina Pathak dubbed for her. Her voice was exceptionally sweet. It just rang in your ears. She did such a good job of the old woman's voice. She was very talented.
Her work was so natural. It came from her experience with IPTA, which believed in realistic acting.
Everyone loved her --- [director] Basu Bhattacharya, [poet-director] Gulzar and [director] Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
Hrishikesh Mukherjee, director
What can I say?
She worked with me in Golmaal and Khoobsurat, two absolutely different films. But she was so incredible in both.
I consider her one of the most brilliant artistes we had. She has been my friend for 50 long years. She was a goddess. I had great affection for her.
Ajay Virmani, shipping magnate, producer of Deepa Mehta's Bollywood/ Hollywood:
Two days ago, we contacted her. She wasn't feeling very well, and so we could not arrange a screening of our film. She had not seen the film.
Dina and other stars of Bollywood/ Hollywood were guests at my suburban Oakville home (west of Toronto) seven months ago. It was a real feast, eating, dancing... All of us were in the best of moods, including Dina.
She has done one of the most phenomenal jobs. People are talking how good the role of grandmother Dina played. Normally in the movies people talk about heroes and heroines, but after seeing Bollywood/ Hollywood, people come out and say, 'What a great grandmother she was in the film.' (It is) unusual.
I just wish she had seen the film but we were (a few days) late getting to Mumbai with the film. I am sure she will be remembered for a long, long time.
Deepa Mehta, director, whose film Bollywood/ Hollywood was the film release of Dina Pathak:
She was a consummate actor and wonderful person. It is such a loss not only to the film industry but to all the people who came in contact with her and fell in love with her.
With inputs by Ajit Jain in Toronto