Actor Arya Babbar once held a grudge against his father, Raj Babbar, for leaving his mother, Nadira, for Smita Patil. However, with time, he has come to understand and respect the depth of their relationship.
In a video on his channel Babbar Saab, Arya Babbar opened up about his father Raj Babbar’s relationship with Smita Patil. He recalled being questioned by reporters about their affair, as Raj was already married to Nadira when he fell in love with Smita.

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.”
Raj Babbar was married to Nadira from 1975 to 1983. He met Smita Patil on the sets of Bheegi Palkein in 1982 and left Nadira to marry her. Their son, Prateik Babbar, was born in 1986, but Smita tragically passed away due to childbirth complications at 31. Raj and Nadira later reconciled and have a son and daughter together.
Recently, Prateik married Priya Banerjee, but no one from the Babbar family was invited. This marks his second marriage; he was previously married to Sanya Sagar, but they separated in 2023 after a year of marriage.