Veteran actor Nana Patekar, who died in Goa on October 8 at the age of 75, was known as much for his fearless, forthright nature as for his powerful performances. Mahesh Manjrekar, who directed him in the Marathi film Natsamrat (2016), remembers an actor whose stature never came in the way of his simplicity and warmth. From his unassuming lifestyle to the way he stood up for junior artistes, Mahesh shares anecdotes that offer a glimpse of the man behind the formidable screen persona.

Mahesh says, “Nana was the most rooted guy I’ve ever seen. He could speak his mind in front of anybody. He had no interest in luxuries in life or fancy cars; he was happy with what he had. In fact, he didn’t even have a driver. He used to drive when he wanted to and would ask, ‘Tere ko pick karna hai?’ That’s how simple he was.”

Natsamrat brought Mahesh and Nana together professionally, and their collaboration sparked chatter even before the film went on floors, with some predicting that it might not even release.

Mahesh recalls, “Both of us are known for talking honestly and fearlessly. So, once Natsamrat was announced, many predicted that the film would not be released because of our collaboration. Nana had this habit of watching the scenes on the monitor. So, on the first day of the shoot, while watching a scene on the monitor, he couldn’t hear the sound. Nana being Nana, he scolded the sound recordist, leaving him nervous and shit scared, which made the cameraman nervous as well. What happens when a man is scared? He makes more mistakes, which is exactly what happened that day. So, the next morning, I told Nana that we needed to change the sound recordist and the cameraman. He asked why, saying that they were good. I told him, ‘They are scared and they can’t work under pressure.’ So, Nana went and hugged both of them, abused them a little bit, and that was it. It was smooth sailing after that. He was like a child.”

Mahesh also reveals that Nana had once wanted to collaborate with him on another film, but he chose not to direct it because he did not feel personally convinced by the subject.

He shares, “Nana wanted to do a film with me, but I told him that I didn’t see a film on that subject. It might turn out to be a wonderful film, but my coming on board might harm it because I couldn’t see myself making it with the conviction it required. I felt I was incapable of doing justice to it. So, he threatened me, saying, ‘Phir main karta hoon,’ and I said, ‘Kar’ (laughs!). Trust me when I say, he was like a child.”

Nana’s impact on Mahesh and his contemporaries went back to the early years of his career. For a generation of actors and artistes who had grown up watching Nana establish himself as a formidable performer, seeing him stand up for junior artistes left an equally lasting impression.

Mahesh shares, “Our generation idolized Nana Patekar as an actor and the man he was beyond that persona. We were in awe of him. He was a very nice human being. So, when he was signed in the parallel role in the Hindi film Aaj Ki Awaz, which starred Raj Babbar, who was extremely popular then, it was a matter of great pride for us. A bunch of us excited youngsters went to watch the shoot and were thrilled to see Nana Patekar shoulder to shoulder with Raj Babbar. While we were standing there, a man walked up to us and told us to stand in another corner. One should have seen the firing he got from Nana, who told him, ‘Kis tareeke se baat kar rahe ho?’ Our pride for him grew tenfold. See, we all come from middle-class families and were not exposed to the glamour side of the industry. At that time, there were no vanity vans or anything like that. So, during lunchtime, Nana called us all in and ordered food for everyone. We were dumbstruck to be having lunch with an actor we had idolized forever.”

Mahesh adds, “Nana Patekar is such a guy that you feel such people are invincible. Nana Patekars don’t die but live on in our memories.”

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People like Nana Patekar don’t die. We always feel he is there. He had that fire and strength in whatever he did.

I directed him in Natsamrat [2016]. When I told Nana, ‘Let’s do this’, he said yes. It was just a verbal commitment. Nana was like a possessed man working on the film; he was like a 60-year-old child who got a toy. 

On the first day of the shoot, Nana came, sat on the monitor to see the scene. Then by mistake, some wire got loose, and the next scene’s dialogue did not get recorded, and Nana started firing the sound recordist. On the second day, I told Nana, ‘We need to hire a new sound recordist and a cameraman’. When he asked why, I said, ‘They are scared of you as you [yell at] them. They get nervous.’ He just looked at me quietly, went to those two guys, and hugged them. From that day on, I did not have a single problem. He was like that — always expressing immediately what he felt, and there was no malice in it. 

He was a perfectionist in his work. I worked with two of the greatest actors in Marathi cinema and theatre, Vikram Gokhale and Nana Patekar. 

After Natsamrat was complete, he just hugged me and said, ‘We have made a great film’. I miss him so much. I’ll never be able to work with him. 

Every time he signed a film, he used to call me. The last thing he told me was that he was doing a Raju [Rajkumar] Hirani film. I feel so sad that the movie [will] never [get] made. Both of them would have been magic together. 

I came to London recently, and on Wednesday night, I was scrolling through Instagram and saw him reviewing a book he had read. I wondered why he was looking pale. I told my wife, ‘I will call him first thing tomorrow morning’. I went to sleep with that thought, and at 3 am [London time], I got a call that he is no more. That video felt like him saying goodbye to me before he went.

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Mahesh Manjrekar who directed the landmark 2016 Marathi drama film Natsamrat, and had known Nana Patekar since their theatre days tells us, “This is the biggest loss for me after my mother and father. We have lost Vikram Ghokhale and now Nana, the pillars of the Marathi film industry. I cant believe he is no more, it’s a feeling I cant explain. I was looking forward to working with him again but couldn’t find a subject that could justify his talent."

Recalling their days as newcomers in the industry he says, “I knew him for almost 42 years, having met during our theatre days. I remember we once visited his film sets and considered him as the pride of Maharashtra even back then. Someone tried to shoo us away from the sets because we were not known back then and he lost his cool.”

He adds that just a few days his wife Medha Manjrekar and he were planning to meet Nana. “He used to call her Sarkar (like he did in Natsamarat, the film in which they acted together.) He was like family to us and would keep checking on Medha especially after she was diagnosed with cancer,” says Manjrekar.