Actor Nana Patekar died on October 8 at the age of 75 due to a cardiac arrest. Photographer Atul Kasbekar took to his Instagram on Thursday after the news broke to eulogise the actor and share memories of him. In a poignant moment, he remembered how Nana had prepared firewood for his funeral with ‘morbid humour,’ telling the photographer he was keeping them dry so attendees wouldn’t cry at his cremation due to it.
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Atul Kasbekar recalls memories of Nana Patekar
Atul penned a long note on his Instagram and posted a monochrome photo of the actor, writing, “Nana Saheb. What a man. What a loss. I shared a wonderfully warm relationship with Nana Patekar. We didn’t meet often, but whenever we did, it felt like we’d met yesterday.” He also called the actor ‘Unpredictable. Intense. Fiercely individualistic.’
The photographer recalled meeting Nana at his Pune farm to shoot a photo for one of his series, and the feast he and his crew were served. “Every assistant, spot boy and driver was seated in his main dining area, with Nana Saheb personally walking around serving extra rotis and helpings of his famous mutton,” wrote Atul, adding, “No hierarchy. No fuss. Just extraordinary generosity from a man who could intimidate an entire film set with one raised eyebrow.”
How Nana saved firewood for his funeral
Atul then recalled Nana showing him around his property, including the gym where he pulled off a dozen tricep dips. “Stone cold. No warm-up. Show-off!” wrote the photographer of the video that had gone viral then. He then recalled seeing the firewood Nana had prepared for his own funeral.
“And then, in a moment of spectacularly morbid humour, showed me a stack of firewood he’d prepared for his own funeral. He’d kept it dry, he explained, because wet wood smokes, and he didn’t want people crying at his funeral merely because the smoke got into their eyes! Only Nana Saheb could turn his own cremation into a comedy routine,” wrote Atul.
The photographer also wrote that the death of the actor feels like a ‘punch in the guts’, adding, “Rest easy, Nana Saheb. There will never be another quite like you.”
Nana’s last rites will be performed at his farmhouse in Pune. “The mortal remains will be brought (to Pune) by around 5 PM, and later will be kept for the last ‘darshan’. The last rites will be performed on the premises of his farmhouse,” said Ganesh Thorat, the CEO of Patekar’s Naam Foundation, which works for water conservation. The farmhouse is located at Donje on the outskirts of Pune city. The actor’s last rites will be held with state honours.