Late actor Smita Patil’s son, Prateik Smita Patil has finally broken the silence on the rumours of him being gay and has openly told many things in a recent interview.
Prateik was asked, ‘Are you gay?’ The actor spoke about this for the first time.
Prateik said, ‘People think I am gay… but I am not. I don’t understand where this rumour came from. Maybe I did a film, Cobalt Blue, which is why people must have thought so.
When I was in my 20s, I used to get attention from a lot of gay men. Many times, people would come and propose directly. At that time, we were not as open as we are these days after #MeToo. So things had to be handled sensibly, without anyone feeling bad.
Maybe that is why people thought that I was gay. But I would just say lovingly, ‘I love you but not like that.’ I used to laugh myself after hearing all this.
On one hand, people were calling me something else, and on the other hand, these rumours were flying. Then I got married, so people slowly started understanding everything.’
Do you think being gay is still taboo in Bollywood?
Prateik said ‘Yes, it is unfortunate that even today in our industry, if someone is openly gay, then there is a lot of talk about it. Whereas this is not the case in Hollywood. There, many actors and actresses openly reveal their identity and people recognise them by their talent.
Here, people still judge sexuality. Talent should have nothing to do with this. Sometimes it seems that instead of moving forward, we are going backwards.
Love is just love, it is that simple.’
