Born on November 28, 1986, Prateik Babbar is the son of veteran actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar and late actress Smita Patil. Prateik lost his mother Smita Patil barely two weeks after his birth. The actress died from childbirth complications. (All photos/Prateik Babbar's official Instagram account and mid-day archives)
Prateik Babbar's struggle was possibly scripted before his time. The only child to Smita Patil and Raj Babbar, he was brought up by his maternal grandmother, Vidyatai Patil, and aunt, Manya Patil, after Smita passed away after his birth.
In picture: A still from Prateik Babbar's Bollywood debut Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na (2008). The actor played lead actress Genelia D'Souza's sibling in the film.
Prateik Babbar's father Raj was married to veteran theatre personality Nadira Zaheer Babbar with whom he had two children - Aarya and Juhi - when he met Smita. As a man in love with and married to two women, Raj Babbar led a complicated life. Its crushing burden on Smita Patil, she once described as 'private hell'. After her death in December 1986, Raj Babbar returned to living with first wife Nadira Babbar, who had accepted Smita and her kid Prateik.
"My parents' relationship always was a source of confusion. Why were things like this? If mom had just lived longer and dad would have spent more time with me, things could have been, actually, would have been, different," said Prateik Babbar in a candid chat with mid-day.
Prateik Babbar grew up with grandparents grounded in nationalist ideology. Smita Patil's father Shivajirao Patil, one of Maharashtra's tallest leaders of the co-operative movement was a member of the Rajya Sabha and twice elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Council.
Smita Patil's mother Vidyatai Patil, too, was involved with the socialist movement. The actor was extremely close to his maternal grandparents and used to dote on them. Prateik respects them immensely and takes their advice seriously. In fact, his aunt Manya and his grandparents are the people he's closest to in the family.
Manya, Smita Patil's sibling, who has a degree in fashion from New York, has been Prateik's custodian in a sense, both personally and while managing his career.
In a candid chat with mid-day, Prateik Babbar had revealed that his maternal family - The Patils - were clear that Raj Babbar was responsible for Smita's pain. It didn't help that he was hardly around, busy with acting and political commitments. "I was brought up believing he was the bad guy. They told me what he had done, and how my mother was lonely. So, I distanced myself from him."
Drugs seemed a convenient balm for Prateik Babbar. His first brush with substance abuse was at 14. It was marijuana with friends. As he grew braver, he moved to miracle mood changers. Ganja remained a constant.
The other constant was a girlfriend. "It was about rebelling. With drugs, I also needed relationships. I thought if I didn't have anyone with me, I'd fall apart." Perhaps to prove that relationships and marriage can work, he wanted to wed every woman he dated, including actress Amy Jackson. "At 14, I engraved a girl's name on my hand with a lit cigarette. I am very careful about falling in love now," he said.
A stint at a rehab centre in Mumbai was followed by relentless counselling. Most psychotherapy experts arrived at one conclusion — he was trying to fill a void. "I never believed that, though. But it was true. It makes me glad then that in the last three years, I have stayed away from a relationship. The break gave me the chance to face my problems alone, even if I was facing them when high."
Raj Babbar wanted to launch his son in a film, but when he turned 25. Instead, Prateik joined Prahlad Kakkar's production firm as assistant director. Kakkar, a friend of the family, even had a firm named by Smita. "Dad kept saying, wait, but I didn't want any of it. I was pushing everyone away," Prateik.
The going solo obsession made him symbolically sever ties with his father. In 2011, he announced that he was now simply, Prateik. He said in an interview during promoting Dum Maaro Dum in 2011 that he regarded actor Abhishek Bachchan as his elder brother, prompting half-brother Aarya Babbar to blame him for "doing all kinds of things for publicity."
"I didn't want to have anything to do with them. After advertising, I auditioned for Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na," said Prateik. The 2008 romantic comedy produced by Aamir Khan to launch his nephew Imran had critics single out Prateik as 'the guy to watch out for'. Unusually natural on-screen for a debutant, he won a Filmfare for the role in 2008.
But after his grandmother's death in 2015, Prateik knew he had hit rock bottom again. He decided he'd return to rehab. "In an attempt to tell the world to f*** off! I was hurting myself the most." He also had his anger to deal with. But isolated, he turned to his only parent. "I looked at my father and realised, this is the only parent I have — my biological father. And I suddenly didn't want to care about what happened, and what he did. I wanted to love him. I couldn't let the past, something I have no control over, destroy me." And so began one more long walk to normalcy.
Prateik Babbar has built a bridge to Nadira Babbar and the kids, calling their relationship "a hundred per cent normal". "I go and hang with them at home all the time".
In picture: (Left to Right) Juhi Babbar with husband-actor Anup Soni and kid Imaan, Raj Babbar, Prateik Babbar and Nadira Babbar.
Coming clean on addiction in an industry famously expert at running for cover, is Prateik Babbar's way of standing out. "I want to say, yes, I was bad. Now, I want to be good and do good. I hope it doesn't backfire."
On the work front, in 2018, Prateik Babbar made a smashing comeback of sorts with the Tiger Shroff-starrer Baaghi 2, followed by critically acclaimed films Mulk and Mitron. In 2019, he was seen in Chhichhore and Yaaram. He also made his web debut in 2019 with Zee5's Skyfire.
Talking about his love life, Prateik Babbar married his long-time girlfriend Sanya Sagar on January 23, 2019. The couple got hitched in a traditional Maharashtrian style in Lucknow.
Prateik Babbar and Sanya Sagar knew each other for over eight years before getting engaged on January 23, 2018.
Sanya Sagar, a writer-director-editor, hails from Lucknow and is a politician's daughter. She has graduated from the National Institute of Fashion Technology in fashion communication and has also done a one-year diploma in practical filmmaking from the London Film Academy. She has worked as a production assistant on the Danny Huston-starrer, 'The Last Photograph', and as a production runner on the Salma Hayek short, 11th Hour.
In March 2019, Prateik Babbar appeared in a music video for Shah Rule's Move back, directed by his filmmaker wife Sanya Sagar. The song was a collaboration between Canadian hip-hop artiste Mili Soch with Mumbai-based English-Hindi rapper Shah Rule, who featured in Gully Boy. Their single took a direct dig at the naysayers of the entertainment industry.
Prateik and Sanya's marriage gave relationship goals to countless people across quarters. Now, however, reports have surfaced that all isn't well in their little paradise. Sanya has deleted all her pictures with Prateik, post-marriage from her Instagram account and so has the actor. While in June 2020, Sanya had rubbished the news calling it baseless, however, apparently, the pair's friends and family are still trying to figure out ways to work things out in favour of Prateik and Sanya.
On the work front, Prateik Babbar will be next seen in Ranbir Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt-starrer Brahmastra.
In picture: A candid click of Prateik Babbar and his favourite actress Rekha.
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