For filmmaker Aditya Sarpotdar, working with Nana Patekar on Shakti Shalini was more than an opportunity to direct the legendary actor. Nana was not just someone Sarpotdar had admired on-screen, but also a family friend. The news of Nana’s sudden death on Thursday (October 8) came as a shock to the director.
“It’s very shocking for me. Just a few days ago, I had a long call with him about how he was excited to see the final film,” Sarpotdar tells HT City exclusively, recalling their last conversation. The film, which stars Aneet Padda and is expected to release later this year or early next year, had already been completely shot.
Also read: Exclusive | Muzaffar Ali recalls casting a 25-yr-old Nana Patekar in Gaman, his acting debut: He wasn’t manufactured for Bollywood
“He was my grandfather’s friend. So I have seen him, grown up around stories of him.”
That connection made Shakti Shalini meaningful for Sarpotdar. He had pursued Nana for the role and was grateful when the veteran actor agreed to come on board. “I pursued him to do the part and he was gracious enough to agree to do it. And once he was a part of it, to him it was not just about his role, but the whole film,” he further adds.
Conversations with Nana quickly went beyond Shakti Shalini, “With him, it was cinema always. It was all about all the experiences he’s kind of come from, what he’s learned from, and he would impart that to everybody around him.”
Aditya was particularly struck by Nana’s enthusiasm for cinema even after more than five decades in the industry, “I told him that what I really take away from every conversation I have with him is his enthusiasm about movies, even after working in movies for more than 50 years. It is something that I really want to hold close to me when I am growing as a filmmaker. I look up to this quality of his.”
Their collaboration had been a long time coming. Aditya had first met Nana for a Marathi film nearly a decade earlier, but the project did not work out because of dates and other issues. “I remember telling him that we couldn’t make that work, but we have to make this work… and never would have I thought that this would be my last chance to work with him.”