Prateik Babbar Drops Raj Babbar's Name, Is Now Prateik Smita Patil: 'Striving To Be Like My Mother, Not Like Dad'
Prateik Babbar wants to honour is mother's legacy.
Prateik Babbar and Priya Banerjee got married in an intimate wedding ceremony on February 14, 2025, at Prateik’s late mother Smita Patil’s house in Mumbai. They were surrounded by their closest family and friends during the celebration. However, Raj Babbar, Arya Babbar and Juhi Babbar were not invited to the wedding and this created a stir on social media. Amid this complication, Prateik has also dropped his father’s surname and will now go by Prateik Smita Patil to honour her legacy.
Prateik told the Times of India, “I’m just thinking about what makes me and my soul feel better, and what makes my heart smile, not thinking if it will negatively affect my career. I don’t care about the repercussions. All I care about is the way I feel when I hear that name."
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He mentioned, “I need to be wholly and solely associated with my mother (Smita Patil), her name and her legacy. I don’t think any other name needs to taint that legacy, if you understand what I mean. It needs to just be her name and her legacy. That’s what I’m striving to be. I’m striving to be like my mother and not like my dad. It feels like a new chapter."
When Prateik was asked about his relationship with his dad, Priya said, “Whenever he feels the time is right to speak about it, to speak about things that he has never spoken about, he will. He’s born into this industry. This industry is his friend. The media is his friend. He’s nothing to hide. He’s never hidden anything. His past, his present."
Prateik further added, “It’s extremely complicated for the time being and as Priya mentioned, when I am ready to talk about things that I haven’t before and that need to be spoken about, it will clear the air, not just for me, but for everybody, even that family."
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