Legendary actress Rekha has been conferred with the first Smita Patil Memorial Award for her contribution in the field of cinema.
Rekha said
"This award signifies the excellence of her (Smita Patil's) craft, which includes her acting abilities, dancing abilities or her ability to be fearless in front of the camera or in choosing her roles or the way she could just live that moment and make a statement on-screen with her beautiful eyes without saying a single word. I am not saying this because I have won an award in her name. It is because I feel she had far more finesse and was brilliant as an actor. I realized this thing 30 years ago when I decided to watch all her films. Today, I can say that she was far more better actress than me and than anybody else."
Smita Patil Memorial Award
Smita Patil Memorial Award is held once in every two years in honour of late actress Smita Patil who is known for her contribution to the Eighties' parallel cinema movement and her brilliant career in films. She died a month after she gave birth to a son Prateik Babbar.
Smita played iconic characters in the movies like Arth, Manthan, Bhumika and Mirch Masala. Nazrana, Avam and Thikana are some of her films, which released after her death.
