Arya Babbar says Raj Babbar had ‘pure’ love for Smita Patil, it wasn’t an affair: ‘Baap itna galat nahi tha’ | Bollywood

There was a time when actor Arya Babbar kept a grudge against his father and actor Raj Babbar for leaving his mother Nadira for actor Smita Patil. However, he understands the depth of their relationship now and respects it. Also read: Raj Babbar’s daughter Juuhi on Prateik Babbar not inviting family to wedding with Priya Banerjee: ‘He was influenced’

Arya looks back

In a video shared on his channel Babbar Saab, Arya spoke about Raj’s affair with Smita. He said he used to be questioned by reporters about his father’s relationship with Smita Patil. Raj was already married to Nadira when he fell in love with Smita.

“When I was 6-7 years old, I used to enjoy playing hide and seek but I wasn’t playing hide and seek with my friends, I was playing it with the media. They would pop out of anywhere, throw a microphone in my face and ask me, ‘Your father is having an affair. how do you feel?’”

He added, “But honestly, that wasn’t an affair. That was genuine pure love that Papa and Smita ma felt for each other. As a family, we understood and respected that relationship, and accepted it . But when you are 6-7 years old, you don’t understand all of this. And it was because of this, that my relationship with my father was strained. Because I couldn’t get it. Now that I am 43 and I have been married for 8-9 years, I understand, ‘Baap itna bhi galat nahi tha (My father wasn’t that wrong)’.”

Arya shared that the silver lining of that relationship was that he got his “little brother (Prateik) because of that.”

More about the Babbar family

Raj was married to Nadira from 1975 to 1983. After meeting Smita Patil on their 1982 film Bheegi Palkein set, he left Nadira to marry Smita. Their son Prateik was born in 1986. Smita died soon after from complications during childbirth at age 31. Raj and Nadira reconciled a few years later—they have a son and daughter. Prateik Babbar recently got married to Priya Banerjee. Nobody from the Babbar family was invited for the wedding. This is Prateik’s second marriage; he was married to Sanya Sagar. They parted ways in 2023 after being married for a year.