Nana Patekar, an actor of his own kind, pulls down the curtains

by 

S. Prabhakar

Today, we all woke up to the sad news that Nana Patekar, the versatile actor with unique talent and his own style, has pulled down the curtains and left the Centre Stage once and for all.   An extremely gifted and rare species of an actor who did not follow the Bollywood stereotyping to climb the ladder of success.  Though he was in the industry for over 40 years, he maintained his unique style and status and gave powerful performances.   Whether it was solo movies or a multi-starrer, he stole the show and overshadowed the co-actors, as long as he was on the screen. He acted predominantly in Hindi and Marathi and won many awards, including three national awards and 6 Filmfare awards.   He was conferred with Padma Shri by the Government of India.

 

Nana was never typical hero material and never attempted to be one, running around the trees with the heroines or doing outrageous and unrealistic action scenes, which are considered to be an essential ingredient to be successful in Bollywood.    

Nana has caught the attention and imagination of the audience with N Chandra’s Ankush and Bollywood has found another Angry Young Man after Amitabh.   He stole the thunder from the then established actors like Anil Kapoor, Jackie and Anupam Kher in Parinda and redefined villainism in the Hindi Industry.   After the grand success of Parinda, roles were written exclusively for Nana as the main lead, though not as any other typical hero.  Mustafa, Wajood, Yashwant, Prahar and Abtak Chappan were all his solo hits.   

                                                                                               

     
                                  

As his popularity and stardom increased film after film, producers started casting him in multi-starrers, writing meaty roles for him, and some of his memorable performances in multi-starrers were Agni Sakshi, Tiranga, Krantiveer, Apaharan, Rajneeti, Khamoshi, Shakti and many more movies.   He showed his versatility with super comic timing in Welcome and Welcome Back.  

                      

                         

I found many similarities between Nana and Prakash Raj, two of the most gifted actors.   Both are of the same mould; Prakash also never did a hero role, but he dominated the entire Southern Industry, acting in all four languages, with his roles as a villain, character actor and comedian.  Whenever I watched Prakash Raj in some of his brilliant assignments in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam movies, I always felt that if any of these movies were to be remade, only one actor could do justice to these roles, and that was Nana. Some of the producers and directors also might have felt the same way; that is the reason some of the brilliant roles of Prakash Raj were essayed by Nana when they were remade in Hindi and Nana did justice to those roles, like in Shakti (Anthapuram) and It's My Life (Bomarillu).  But to Nana's misfortune, both bombed at the box office in Hindi.   Similarly one of the best roles of Nana in Marathi movie Natsamrat was done by Prakash Raj in the Telugu remake Rangamartanda, and it was very well received.      

Though the southern industry has taken maximum advantage of a powerhouse of talent like Prakash Raj, unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said about Bollywood. They could not really utilise Nana’s extraordinary talent and dialogue delivery to the fullest, except in a few movies.   He would have done many more memorable roles than he has, but for the dearth of opportunities created by Hindi producers and directors.  He could have done great justice to any role assigned to him. 

 

Served Army:

 Very few people know that Nana was trained in the Territorial Army, and at the peak of his career took a break from acting during the Kargil War, and with the special permission of the then Défense Minister, George Fernandes,  he joined the Army's Quick Reaction Team (QRT).    He spent 60 days with the Army across Srinagar, Dras, Leh and lost around 20 kgs.  Nana was unique and different in his personal life also.    He always preferred to stay away from the glitz and glamour of the Hindi industry.   Loved to live a simple life in a village doing farming.    

Though I do not follow the Marathi film industry, I am sure Nana might have done some memorable movies in Marathi also.   He acted in one Tamil movie Kaala with Rajnikant. Overall, a satisfying career for him, and a remarkable and unique contribution to the Hindi and Marathi industries.  

 

Well played, Nana Patekar. We will miss you. Om Shanti.

 

S. Prabhakar

8.10.2026