It is still difficult for filmmaker Ananth Narayan Mahadevan to believe that Nana Patekar is no more. The two shared a long-standing creative association, having first worked together on Hum Dono, and then reuniting for The Confession Of Mary — a film that would become among Patekar’s last few projects.

The film had recently had a market screening at the Toronto International Film Festival and is now nearing completion of post-production. Patekar was also expected to complete the remaining dubbing work for the film before his untimely death.

“I was in the middle of my yoga when the news hit me. It was numbing and I am still processing the truth,” Mahadevan says.

“I had spoken to him a few days back, prompting him to go to the Toronto Film Festival for a screening of our film, but he revealed how long haul flights made him claustrophobic. He admitted that he had once returned from the airport, blowing up 7 lakhs on a ticket to Melbourne because the flight was too long.”

Mahadevan says the two remained in regular touch, even after Patekar moved to Pune. “We spoke at regular intervals. He had ideas to make another film with me and we ended up having exploratory conversations. Since he had shifted to Pune he would visit Mumbai only for work. The exchange deal would be filter coffee packets from my side and mangoes on his part. But the sessions would be educative for me and the energy invigorating.”

He adds, “The Confession Of Mary was close to his heart. In our first meeting for the film he was clear that he wanted a character he hadn’t played before. The character of the Kerala priest who was accused in a scandal touched him so much that he delved into it with childlike enthusiasm.”

Patekar, Mahadevan recalls, also gave him a compliment that has stayed with him. He told me, “I normally comb through scripts to modify the rough patches but The Confession Of Mary was near perfect and I jumped straight into the shoot.”

Now, with Patekar’s death, the film has taken on a meaning that neither the actor nor the filmmaker could have anticipated while making it.