The Maggie Smith I Knew

‘Maggie was very reserved and private.’
‘Nobody would dare to ask Maggie personal questions. She was not that kind of person.’
‘She didn’t share and would not want you to share either!’

IMAGE: Bill Nighy, Judi Dench, Lillete Dubey, Maggie Smith and Celia Imrie in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

‘You will be dazzling the heavens with your brilliance, darling Maggie,’ Lillete Dubey writes warmly about Maggie Smith, who passed into the ages on September 27 at the age of 89.

The two ladies had worked together twice, in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) and its sequel The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015), and forged beautiful memories.

Lillete turns back the pages of her life and shares her conversations with Maggie with Ronjita Kulkarni/Rediff.com: “I don’t compare myself to Maggie at all, she’s in her own league, but she debuted in the movies well into her 40s. That was something I related to because I got into films at the ripe old age of 46 too. Very few people have had that trajectory.”

 

I’ve been a huge admirer of Maggie Smith even before I met her because she was one of a kind.

Her style of acting, her delivery of her lines, especially her comic timing, was unique.

I don’t know anyone else who had that deadpan way of delivering lines.

And those amazing expressions! Sometimes expressions say a million things, much more than words. She had this withering look which could reduce you to an insect.

 

IMAGE: “Maggie did not like photographs. She didn’t like giving pictures to people, didn’t like taking pictures. I think I was one of the very few in that crew and cast that she gave a photo to,” recalls Lillete Dubey. Photograph: Kind courtesy Lillete Dubey/Instagram

I remember during the Marigold Hotel shoot, Maggie and Judi (Dench) would say that they were 19 or 20 when they first met at the National Theatre.

And they were only 19 days apart.

They were very close, like two school girls, always giggling together. It was very funny because they were hitting 80 but laughing and giggling all the time.

There was a line in Marigold, where Maggie tells Judi, ‘I’m older than you’ and Judy says, ‘Only 19 days.’

And Maggie quipped, ‘Maybe, but still older.’

They took that from real life and it was their running joke.

IMAGE: ANI reports that when asked in an interview about her feelings regarding Maggie Smith’s death, Judi Dench was overcome with emotion. “I suppose the energy that’s created by grief…” she began, her voice trailing off as she fought back tears.

Maggie was very reserved and private.

Nobody would dare to ask Maggie personal questions. She was not that kind of person.

She didn’t share and would not want you to share either! (laughs)

She lost her husband a long time back but never made a big thing about it. She had two sons who she adored and was very much a family person. It’s a trait I identify with.

She was a firecracker on stage, and people who’d seen her in the play Lettuce and Lovage, would agree. That play was literally written for her.

The story goes that Peter Shaffer, one of the best English playwrights, waited for many years until Maggie was free to do the play because he wrote it for her.

I’ve always longed to do that role.

I have to admit I am not a huge Harry Potter fan, that’s not my kind of films so I haven’t seen them. But I have seen her in other films.

She had a certain style of performance from the beginning, right from California Suite, which she did years ago.

I remember her in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brody in which she was brilliant.

I loved her performance in the two Marigold movies, she stole the show from everybody.

In Downton Abbey, we fell in love with her again because she was just brilliant.

IMAGE: Dev Patel and Tena Desai dance in the film, as the cast cheers behind them.

The other reason I’ve admired her is that she had a very strong leg in theatre, like Judi (Dench).

They were born out of the theatre and they loved it.

I don’t compare myself to Maggie at all, she’s in her own league, but she debuted in the movies well into her 40s. That was something I related to because I got into films at the ripe old age of 46. Very few people have had that trajectory.

Even abroad, it’s rare for people to start a film career at that age, especially women, because it’s so determined by your looks and physicality.

I remember chatting with her about it.

She used to call me ‘My darling girl’ and was reasonably fond of me even if I may put it modestly.

Once we were shooting the climax scene in Jaipur.

It was a very important scene where I finally accept that Dev (Patel) has fallen in love with this girl who’s not quite kosher.

It was 12 noon, and very hot. We were sitting in a big aangan in a haveli, where there was Judy, Maggie, Ronald (Pickup)…

Maggie had one line, literally four words, that she had to speak off camera.

She was not even on camera.

The shot had to be taken from several angles.

That is how films get made, it all looks very nice, but it’s a very tiring and laborious process.

So he was taking top shots, long shots, mid shots, and we would have to repeat the scene again and again.

I was feeling very guilty because Maggie Smith, in her late 70s then, was sitting in her wheelchair — of course, in a shaded area — but it was still hot as hell and she was giving me this cue off camera.

I kept telling her Maggie, please, you don’t need to, somebody will stand there. It’s just that I have to look that side.

But she refused to go.

She just looked at me and said darling, this is my job.

That showed the kind of professionalism she had. Yaahan, koi mushkil se cue dega.

There was another time, when Judi and she were so panicked!

I had a show at NCPA, I think I was doing the play, Dance Like A Man.

I had to catch a 2 pm flight, so that I could reach NCPA by 4:30 pm. The show was at 7 pm, so it gave me time for a quick rehearsal.

Since I had done the play many times, I was not so stressed. Of course, I was stressed about reaching on time but I didn’t show it. I was pretty calm.

These two ladies somehow came to know about it and they were so agitated throughout that morning that they kept going to John Madden, my wonderful Oscar winning director, and telling him that Lillette has a show, we’ve got to let her go quickly, she’s got to catch that flight!

They were completely freaking out!

I kept telling them darling please, don’t worry. But they were like, no, it’s a show, darling! Because they’ve done theatre too.

Maggie took a little shine to me because she knew I come from theatre, and I think at some level, it was her first love too.

I remember with Amrish (Puri) also, we did three films with him, and bonded because of theatre. We used to tell each other stories and he would get me parathas for me from home.

IMAGE: Lillete with Maggie Smith. Photograph: Kind courtesy Lillete Dubey/Instagram

Maggie’s humour was very English, very deadpan.

Once, on another hot day in Jaipur during the shoot, we were wearing these silk kurtas. I think we were doing a Jaipur wedding.

That day, we were just sitting around because we were not relevant to the scene. It was one of those scenes where we just had to give reactions, so there was nothing to do.

So Bill (Nighy) and Judi were cracking these naughty jokes and every time I tried to listen, they kept saying no, no, you’re too young, you’re too young (laughs). They were pulling my leg.

Maggie was sitting very quietly, and we were sitting under a big tree.

It was very hot, and we were all thinking, pata nahin kitna time lagega.

The Indian actors were fretting, but these English actors did not fret at all. They were sweating away but not saying a word.

Maggie was sitting next to me, and I was saying, ‘Maggie, I don’t know how long this is going to go on.

And just then on cue, a leaf fell next to me.

Without changing her expression, with a deadpan face, Maggie tells me, ‘Oh darling, we’ll be here till autumn!’

I just cracked up because she would keep making these one-liners, which would leave everyone in splits.