Veteran actor Nana Patekar died at the age of 75 after suffering a cardiac arrest at his residence in Goa. Several Bollywood stars, including Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, paid tribute to the actor on social media. Now, actor Kamlesh Sawant has reflected on Nana’s legacy and the grief surrounding his death.
Kamlesh Sawant recalls Nana Patekar’s condition to work with Amitabh Bachchan
In an interview with Pinkvilla, Kamlesh recalled hearing that Nana Patekar had made a unique demand to work with Amitabh Bachchan in a film. He said, “I did work with him in a film, but unfortunately, I didn’t have any scenes with him. I regret that sometimes. We have seen him working and have also heard multiple stories about him. This one time, I heard that he demanded ₹1 more than Amitabh Bachchan’s fees to work with him in a film. He said, ‘Bachchan sahab ke saath main kaam karunga toh ₹1 zyada lunga (If I work with Bachchan sir, I will take ₹1 more).’ Then he took ₹1 crore and ₹1 for a film, while Amitabh Bachchan was paid ₹1 crore. This is what I have heard, but I am not sure how true it is.”
Big B and Nana Patekar worked together in the movie Kohram (1999), directed by Mehul Kumar. It was the only film in which the two actors shared screen space.
Kamlesh also reflected on the legacy Nana left behind, explaining how he helped shift the focus in Hindi cinema towards dialogue delivery. He said, “There was a time when Bollywood would completely work on music and dance, but eventually, the focus shifted to dialogues. That era was started by Nana Patekar. People would clap at all of his dialogues. I have first-hand experienced the craze around his dialogues at Ganesh Talkies and Jai Hind Talkies. People would watch his films multiple times. They would go crazy hearing him deliver dialogues. This was Nana Patekar’s strength.”
Kamlesh further recalled that Nana was among the few actors who could command complete silence in single-screen theatres, alongside Amitabh Bachchan. He said audiences would watch Nana’s films multiple times and knew exactly when to fall silent to listen to his dialogues, often anticipating each line and waiting for the next one.
About Nana Patekar’s death
Nana died at his residence in Goa after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was taken to hospital, where doctors attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for 45 minutes, but they were unable to revive him.
The post-mortem report revealed that the actor had suffered a heart attack caused by a blood clot blocking the left main coronary artery, which supplies blood to a large part of the heart. The report cited the cause of death as acute myocardial infarction due to left main coronary artery thrombosis secondary to atherosclerotic occlusive coronary artery disease, describing it as a natural cause of death. The actor is survived by his wife, Neelakanti Patekar, and son, Malhar Patekar.