I need to make a name like my mother Smita Patil'

A few months ago,Prateik Babbarwalked the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival with Aamir Khan and director Kiran Rao at the premiere of their filmDhobi Ghat.

It could well be a career-making film for the actor who received a standing ovation at Toronto for his work as a dhobi (washerman) with a glamorous career in mind.

But as he said later, he 'did not know what to make out of the excitement.'

"He is a very shy person," his aunt Anita Patil-Deshmukh tells us helpfully. "But if you give him time, he will talk."

"This (Dhobi Ghat) is his second film," she adds. "After a cameo role in Jaane Tu Na... Jaane Na. People should not mistake his reticence."

Anita is his aunt, the elder sister of Pratiek's famous mother Smita Patil.

Prateik was in New York last week to attend the movie retrospective Bhumika: The Roles of Smita Patil and an exhibition of photographs and memorabilia connected to the actress.

The experience of people who knew his mother speaking about what she meant to them clearly overwhelmed the 24-year-old actor at the event.

The retrospective was organised by the Film Society of Lincoln Centre, the distinguished arts centre in New York city, and the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival.

Image: Prateik Babbar, the resemblance to his mother is so evident
Photographs: Paresh Gandhi/Rediff.com