Showing posts with label Makarand Anaspure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Makarand Anaspure. Show all posts
Nana Patekar’s water conservation project made Dhondalgaon tanker-free for a decade
10:45 AM
MID-DAY (October 9, 2026)
As film lovers across India mourned the death of veteran actor Nana Patekar on Thursday, a village in central Maharashtra remembered how he helped make it ‘tanker-free’ by funding a water conservation project ten years ago.
Drought relief
Patekar, 76, passed away at his Goa residence in the early hours of Thursday. NAAM Foundation, set up by Patekar and fellow Marathi actor Makarand Anaspure, adopted Dhondalgaon, a village in Vaijapur tehsil, in 2016. Every year, the village, 57 km from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city, would need water supplied through tankers as the monsoon ended and Diwali approached, said river expert Anand Asolkar.
During the Nizam era, the village was famous for its sweet limes, which were transported to other parts of the country from nearby Karanjgaon railway station. But with local river barrages choked with silt, farmers could no longer cultivate sweet lime trees or grow more than one crop a year.
4.5-km stretch desilted
“After establishing the NAAM Foundation, Makarand Anaspure and Nana Patekar were in search of a village where a water conservation project could be undertaken... I told them about Dhondalgaon... They came here on October 2, 2015, and inaugurated the work,” Asolkar told PTI.
“There were 12 barrages and they were completely filled with silt, so no water stopped there. The villagers also contributed to the work and we desilted a stretch of 4.5 km. It created storage capacity of nearly 20 crore litres of water,” he said.
Two crops, sometimes three
The project changed the village’s economy, said Asolkar. “Almost 70 per cent of farmers here now grow two crops in a year; some even grow three crops. The village has been tanker-free from 2016 to this day, except for a few months in 2018 when there was a severe drought,” he said.
Water fuels dairy boom
An activist said that the availability of water also provided a boost to dairy farming. The village now produces up to 10,000 litres of milk every day, among the highest in the district. The milk business provides employment to nearly 800 local youths.
“Nana adopted our village, and the way people looked at our village changed. Politicians began to give priority to the development of our village. I take pride in saying that not a single farmer suicide has taken place here since this work was completed,” Sable said.
‘It changed everything’
The village sarpanch said local people had acquired a negative mindset due to repeated droughts. But the water conservation project led by NAAM Foundation changed everything.
Food for thought: Nana’s Virat Kohli connection
Nana was known to be quite a foodie. His love for cricket is also well-known. In previous interviews, he has fondly spoken about Virat Kohli being among his favourite cricketers. “I like Virat Kohli so much that whenever he gets out early while playing for India, I don’t feel like eating my food after that,” Patekar once famously said.
Incidentally, on Thursday, when the news of Patekar’s sudden passing spread, the swashbuckling India batter was among the first to offer his tribute to the great actor. “A true legend of Indian cinema. His work and legacy will live on for generations. Rest in peace, Nana Patekar ji. Om Shanti,” Kohli wrote to his 73.5 million followers on ‘X’.
The reply from some of Kohli’s followers was equally touching. “He was a mad, mad fan of you, Virat Kohli, just like us. We are truly gonna miss him,” wrote one follower to Kohli. “It’s great to see a true legend of cricket giving a tribute to a true legend of cinema,” wrote another.
"Work will not stop, whether I am here or not": Nana Patekar refused to look away from Maharashtra’s farm crisis
10:38 AM
Ardhra Nair & Abhijeet Patil (THE TIMES OF INDIA; October 9, 2026)
Pune/Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar/Kolhapur: Everybody remembers Nana Patekar as the actor of thunderous monologues, piercing stares and charged silences. But far away from the arc lights, he spent years lending that same fierce intensity to a far greater cause — helping Maharashtra’s drought-scorched farming communities rebuild their lives.
For Patekar — fondly called Nana — his deepest satisfaction didn’t come from cinema, but from helping the farmers.
In an annual report of NAAM Foundation, the organization he founded with fellow actor Makarand Anaspure in 2015, Patekar reflected on what truly mattered: “The greatest happiness came from going beyond oneself and doing something for another person. The work would never be finished. What mattered was the satisfaction of having tried hard. The rain would come too little, too much or at the wrong time. The problems would multiply, as the fight was with changing nature. But the work will not stop. Whether I am here or not.”
Now, those words echo with a haunting resonance. The mission he believed would outlive him has become the strongest testament to his legacy.
As drought and water scarcity continue to haunt Maharashtra, the state has lost a man who refused to see the farm crisis as someone else’s burden. He used his rare celebrity not to elevate himself, but to focus attention on the state’s most vulnerable section.
For hundreds of families, Nana wasn’t a star. He was the helping hand that appeared when everything else seemed lost.
The luxury car that never arrived
It all began in 2015 when Nana was about to buy a luxury car and had even set aside Rs 1.5 crore. Then a late-night television report changed everything.
It showed widows and children of farmers who had died by suicide. Shaken, he called his friend Anaspure. They split the car fund into cheques of Rs 15,000 each and gave them to the bereaved families. But the report kept haunting him. He realized charity could ease pain for a moment, but not end the crisis. That restlessness shaped his philanthropy — and turned one decision into a near folklore.
What started as direct help became a larger mission — of water, education and rural rehabilitation.
‘He held my daughter in his arms and gave us hope’
Vimal Gaikwad from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar was among the first women to receive help from NAAM Foundation. She was pregnant when her husband, a farmer crushed by drought and debt, died by suicide. “I was working as a farm worker when NAAM Foundation’s Sangita Kulkarni met me. She counselled me and told me all was not lost. Until then, nobody had spoken openly to me about my husband’s death,” Gaikwad recalled.
She remembered her first meeting with Nana. “I met him when my daughter was only a month old. He held her in his arms. The foundation provided me with financial aid and helped me set up a flour mill. Eleven years later, that mill has allowed me to raise my children with dignity,” teary-eyed Gaikwad said.
‘Nana changed the destiny of my family’
For Vaibhav Kalyane (25) from drought-hit Latur, Nana’s intervention altered the course of his life. “The continuous drought meant our family struggled even for two square meals every day. NAAM Foundation sponsored my entire engineering education. Today, I work in an engineering firm in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar,” Kalyane, the first graduate in his family, said.
“Even this year, the soybean crop on our 2.5-acre farm has failed. But as I have a stable job, my family doesn’t have to worry too much,” he said.
‘It feels like losing a family member’
Sachin Chavan (27) was just 14 when his father died by suicide in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. “The debt and failed crops destroyed our family. My elder brother had to abandon his education after Std XII. I would have met the same fate if NAAM Foundation had not stepped in,” he recalled.
The foundation financed his engineering degree. Today, Chavan too works in the engineering sector. “When the news (of Nana’s passing) came, everyone in my office was saddened. Other actors entertained us, but Nana felt like family. For me, it feels like losing someone close all over again,” he said.
Many of the students whose lives were transformed by NAAM Foundation now return as volunteers, helping others walk the same difficult path they once travelled.
A lifeline after disaster
When devastating floods submerged large parts of Kolhapur and Sangli in 2019, Nana showed up once again. Through NAAM Foundation, 40 truckloads of relief material, including food, clothes and tin sheets, were dispatched to affected areas. After the floodwaters receded, more than 4,000 volunteers helped villagers clear debris and rebuild shattered homes.
Premila Bhokare from Danwad village still remembers meeting Nana at a rehabilitation camp. “I broke down when I saw him. We had lost almost everything,” she said.
Nana listened quietly before replying. “You have lost nothing. Don’t cry over a house or utensils. Those can be built again,” Bhokare recalled Nana’s words, which were not mere consolation.
“He helped rebuild the house. He ensured we got utensils, clothes, books and stationery for the children. Most people donate what they no longer need. Nana specifically asked people to donate new clothes, so disaster victims could preserve their dignity,” she said.
Twitterati come out to support Nana Patekar's NGO Naam Foundation
7:59 AM
MUMBAI MIRROR (July 14, 2016)
A fundraising campaign organised on the micro-blogging website saw over 2,500 users pooling in money for Bollywood actor Nana Patekar and Marathi filmmaker Makarand Anaspure's non-government organisation, Naam Foundation.
The twitterati collectively sent out more than 20,000 unique tweets to raise funds for Maharashtra drought victims for the fundraising campaign, #IcareISupport.
Conceptualised by cricket software company CricHQ, the campaign showed the social media's unique ability to rally people for a worthy social cause. It drew the support from several Indian and international cricketers as well, among them New Zealander Scott Styris who urged his fans through a recorded video to shell out.
Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin, former New Zealand former captain Stephen Fleming and the Twitter handle of Chennai Super Kings team also tweeted messages inviting funds.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)