Nana Patekar: A Philanthropist At Heart, An Actor By Destiny

Mumbai: “Sir, ba na gharaa baher kaadhla!” — “Sir, my father threw me out of the house!”

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The anguished cry, delivered with almost startling honesty by a young Nana Patekar at the end of Vijay Tendulkar’s one-act play Pahije Jaatiche, still rings in my ears. It was 1978-79, and for those who saw the performance then, the young actor did not merely play the character. He owned him.

He has, in many ways, continued to do so with every character he has inhabited.

Arvind Deshpande of Avishkar had first spotted Nana during an inter-collegiate drama competition when the young man was studying at JJ School of Art. Deshpande cast him in Pahije Jaatiche, Tendulkar’s sharply observed play dealing with caste. Years later, when Nana had become “The Nana”, he returned to the same role in the same one-act play — this time as a tribute to Deshpande after his death. That return said much about the man.

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For Nana, theatre always came first

For all the fame that cinema eventually brought him, Nana Patekar remained fundamentally a theatre actor. His collaborations with Vijaya Mehta produced some of his most memorable work — Purush, Mahasagar and Hamidabaichi Kothi, each dramatically different in subject and character. Yet Nana had the rare ability to make every character appear completely lived-in.

He also ventured into children’s theatre, performing in Aala Adanayacha Gaada with Avishkar, directed by Sulabha Deshpande.

Hamidabaichi Kothi was also a reminder of how far Nana had to travel before becoming the star audiences would later recognise. He was still a novice in commercial theatre, while his co-star Ashok Saraf was already a superstar of Marathi cinema. Audiences often came simply to see Saraf perform live. One incident from those days remains particularly revealing.

The day Nana saved Ashok Saraf’s life

The play was being staged in a small Maharashtra town on a makeshift stage that was completely unsuitable for the performance. The audience could barely see the actors because of the seating arrangement and because much of the play required the performers to remain seated. Restlessness soon turned into fury, and the situation escalated into a riot and stampede.

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Nana realised that Ashok Saraf, the biggest name on stage, could become the first target of the enraged crowd. He quietly got Saraf out, took him to the road, stopped a rickshaw and instructed the driver to sit in the back with Saraf. Nana then drove at racing speed to the guesthouse.

“I am totally indebted to Nana for saving my life,” Saraf has recalled on several occasions. That was Nana Patekar.

Behind the intimidating persona was a different Nana

Behind the supposedly selfish, eccentric and sometimes intimidating public persona was a man who instinctively put the people he cared about before himself. He took time to make friends. An introvert by nature, he was perfectly happy to let the world believe whatever it wanted about him. Not everyone, he believed, needed access to the real Nana. But those who did were often treated to an entirely different man — affectionate, mischievous and, at times, almost childlike.

Few know, for instance, that Nana badgered Amol Palekar into casting him as the Rainmaker his film Thodasa Roomani Ho Jayen, a character he had wanted to play ever since watching the English film.

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From reluctant film actor to celebrated star

Born Vishwanath Gajanan Patekar, Nana did not set out to become a film star. He was, first and foremost, a theatre actor who gradually acquired the skills to become a remarkably effective film actor. He was initially sceptical about making that transition. It was Ashok Saraf and filmmaker Jabbar Patel who persuaded him to take the plunge.

There were small beginnings — Simhasan, Bhalu and then Raghu Maina, in which he shared the lead with Ashok Saraf. He looked somewhat awkward on screen in those early days. But awkwardness was never going to stop Nana. His defining quality was his willingness to give everything he had to whatever he undertook.

That stubborn commitment eventually made him one of the most compelling actors in front of the camera. Parinda, Krantiveer, Tiranga and Agni Sakshi brought him commercial success. Films such as Gulzar’s Hu Tu Tu and Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti allowed him to inhabit more complex worlds.

He brought the same intensity to everything he did

He also tried his hand at direction, making Prahaar, a film centred on the military. True to form, Nana did not treat the subject casually. He and his cast and crew underwent training with National Defence Academy personnel to understand the physical demands and nuances of military life. He served in the Territorial Army and rose to the rank of Honorary Lieutenant Colonel, and he lent his services during the 1999 Kargil War.

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He made fewer Marathi films than Hindi ones, but the films he chose were rarely conventional. He played the protagonist in Natasamrat, adapted from the celebrated Marathi play, although interestingly he declined to play the same role on stage.

One of his most deeply felt Marathi performances was Dr. Prakash Amte: The Real Hero.

For Nana, giving was more important than fame

Nana was fascinated by the life and work of Dr Prakash Amte and his father, Baba Amte. But admiration, for him, was rarely expressed merely in words. For years, he gave 50 per cent of his earnings to the Amte Ashram, which works for leprosy patients, as well as supporting other charitable causes.

Later, his commitment to farmers took a more organised form when he joined hands with Makarand Anaspure to establish Naam Foundation, devoted to helping farmers and rural communities in Maharashtra.

Away from the camera, he bought a farm near Pune and increasingly found solace there, or in Goa, whenever work permitted.

The Nana his friends knew

It is perhaps this part of Nana’s life that will be least visible in the tributes that follow his death.

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The public knew the actor — the booming voice, the piercing eyes, the explosive performances, the man who could make a simple line sound like a declaration of war. The industry knew the eccentric, sometimes difficult perfectionist. His friends knew someone else.

They knew the man who would push them relentlessly because he wanted them to do better. The man who could be fiercely protective without making a show of it. The man who could disappear from public view but would be there when a friend needed him.

And they knew the Nana who could, at any hour, happily enter a kitchen and make bhakri-pithla simply because someone was hungry. That may ultimately be the most enduring image of Nana Patekar.

Not the star. Not the angry man. Not the eccentric. Not even the celebrated actor. But the man who quietly stood behind his people, gave generously without seeking applause and somehow remained more comfortable being useful than being famous. Nana Patekar may have become a film star almost by accident. The philanthropist, the friend and the theatre actor were always there.

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