Nagpur: Veteran actor Nana Patekar made an emotional appeal to distressed farmers on Monday, urging those battling suicidal thoughts to reach out for help, instead of taking irreversible steps, as he reflected on the deep emotional scars left by Maharashtra's agrarian crisis. Addressing the Jal Kranti Parishad in Nagpur, Patekar, who started NAAM Foundation around a decade ago, said farmers' suffering profoundly altered his understanding of life and pushed him away from the glamour of cinema to rural communities struggling with debt, drought and uncertainty.

"Even a frog jumps to save itself when someone tries to step on it. Then imagine how deep the pain of a farmer must be when he decides to end his own life."

Patekar said he and his colleagues often tried to intervene by speaking directly to distressed farmers and encouraging them to reconsider their decisions. Reflecting on his journey into social work, he recalled how he once planned to buy a car with his savings, but changed his mind after watching a television report on farm suicides. The money, he said, was instead diverted to support affected families.

"Visits to places like Beed changed me," he said. "When you see several young widows of farmers with their children and shattered families, you realize immediate intervention is necessary."

Those experiences eventually led to expansion of Naam Foundation, which has since worked on farmer welfare, water conservation and rural development initiatives across Maharashtra and other states.

"The happiness Naam Foundation has given me is greater than all awards and money from cinema," Patekar said. The actor also spoke candidly about his personal life and career, admitting that late Marathi actor Vikram Gokhale, with whom he shared screen in the acclaimed film, Natsamrat, was "better than me in every aspect of acting".

Recalling the making of ‘Natsamrat', Patekar said the role carried enormous emotional weight and was originally conceived as a stage production before he pushed for its cinematic adaptation.

He referred to theatre veterans like Shreeram Lagoo, saying roles such as Natsamrat demanded immense psychological and physical intensity from performers.

Quoting the iconic Shakespearean line used in the film — "To be or not to be, that is the question" — Patekar said he would still love to perform a play at the Suresh Bhat Auditorium someday.

Moving away from cinema, he said he now felt disconnected from urban life. "City walls feel like coffins to me now," he said. "I feel more alive in villages."

Patekar said he wished to adopt a village in a hilly region and spend more time working directly with rural communities, particularly on water conservation and sustainable development. Coming from a modest background, he said emotional connections formed in villages carried deep personal meaning for him. "When someone in a village pats me on the back, it feels like a father's touch," he said. "We are not political parties. We do not want awards. What matters is the satisfaction on people's faces because of the work we do," he said.