From Gol Maal to Khubsoorat Remembering Veteran Actor Dina Pathak

Dina Pathak was a renowned Indian actor and director of the Gujarati film industry. She was best known for her nuanced performances and won the hearts by playing the role of a mother and then grandmother in several films.

Born on March 4, 1922, in Amreli, Gujarat, Pathak acted in over 120 films in nearly six decades of her career. She was also an activist and President of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW). She is best known for her memorable roles in the Hindi films Gol Maal and Khubsoorat, and played powerful roles in films like Koshish, Umrao Jaan, Mirch Masala, and Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho! She died of a heart attack on 11 October 2002, at the age of 80, in Bandra, Mumbai at her daughter's residence.

Professional life

Pathak started her professional career at an early age by acting in plays as a teenager and also won acclaim from critics. As per reports, she was also an active member during the independence movement, a time she was expelled from St. Xavier's College in Mumbai. However, after being expelled from Xavier's, Pathak studied in another college and completed her BA. Pathak played an important role in reviving Gujarati cinema in Mumbai.

Dina Pathak made her debut with the Gujarati film Kariyawar in 1948. In 1957, she performed Mena Gurjari in front of then-President, Dr Rajendra Prasad at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi, embarking a history for it to become the only Gujarati play to have achieved the feat so far. She was also seen in Satyakam (1969), Saat Hindustani (1969), The Guru (1969) among other films. The veteran actor performed in Uski Kahani (1996) and won the Bengal Journalists Association Award for her performance. Later, she formed her theatre group in Ahmedabad called "Natmandal", and even today, she is remembered as a stalwart performer and a theatre activist at the Indian People's Theatre Association. Her last film was Pinjar (2003), but she died before the release,  due to a heart attack and prolonged illness.

Personal life 

The veteran actor got married to Baldev Pathak, who ran a clothes shop near the gateway of India in Mumbai. The couple has two daughters- Ratna Pathak and Supriya Pathak. Noted actors of Indian cinema Naseeruddin Shah and Pankaj Kapur are her sons-in-law.

Remembering her mother Ratna Patak Shah had said in an interview, " Not just as a mother, but she was someone whose opinion of my performances I could trust very blindly, whose support I had in every way. I could talk to maa about practically everything and she was a very dear friend by the time she left. We had got past the unhappy time between mother and daughter. We both had come to accept and therefore, like each other."

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