Mom was a better actor : Prateik Babbar

It's a tough call to decide who's better when both your parents are equally talented and in the same profession. But for Smita Patil and Raj Babbar's son Prateik, it was an easy one. "My mother was a better actor than my father. Her acting was so real and natural that anyone could relate to the characters she essayed so beautifully on screen. I think many people would agree with my answer."

Prateik's debut film Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na garnered him a lot of attention. He then went on to bag a meaty role in Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao's Dhobi Ghaat and now we learn he has signed a Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie.

"Jaane Tu... was Imran's movie and I didn't expect to get promoted like him. But I'm happy that people recognised my talent through my work and not through promotion. Aamir has been a lovely support system. He is very encouraging and great to work with. You can learn so much just by observing him on the sets. I'm very happy with the projects I have on hand," he says.

Prateik reveals that his mother's contemporaries like Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Shabana Azmi are like surrogate parents to him. "They have given me so much love, support and advice about life that I feel they are my family and parents. I'm in touch with all of them. I do reach out to them for guidance and they are always there. I'm friends with Imaad (Naseer's son) too," he says.

Ask him to pick what he feels is his mother and father's best movie respectively, and he shoots off, "All the films in which my mother and father have acted together are their best movies for me. I never really got to see them spend time together, so when I see them on screen I feel this is how they were in person. I feel this is how our family would have been with them."

He adds, "I feel blessed that I'm getting good work. I wish my mother could see all this. I know if she was around she would support and encourage me more. I miss her and I'm going to make her proud."