Nana Patekar’s acting legacy: From Tendulkar’s stage to Natasamrat

Patel would argue with Patekar that such intensity was not required. That this was acting. But Patekar, an artist who had trained at JJ School of Art in Mumbai and knew that power of truth, countered, “Even acting must have reality to it.”

Patekar, who died on October 8 at the age of 75, never changed the way he worked. He rose through different roles on the Marathi stage and Marathi and Hindi films, adding textures to his art.

Whatever the role, Patekar brought an intellectuality to it. He was versed in several art forms. As a lover of music, his home was filled with the songs of Kumar Gandharv or Kishori Amonkar playing. He knew a vast number of Marathi poets by heart. He had watched the play, Ghashiram Kotwal, 10-15 times. He cared for society. There was also Patekar’s fearlessness—He wouldn’t shy of giving any political leader who asked for his honest opinion.

“My first published newspaper article was about Nana Patekar. His passing is a terrible loss. He was the master of, both, maximum acting and coiled restraint. Time and again he showed tremendous intelligence to reverse the self caricature that invariably creeps in with elaborate mannerism acting and popular demand. A worthy actor who took the ‘angry young man’ forward which, for a serious cinema lover, is just one of the dimensions of his multi-faceted talent,” said Dhiraj Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).

Patel approached Patekar again in 2014 for the biopic Yashwantrao Chavan: Bakhar Eka Vaadalaachi. “He studied the role so widely and put forth every argument and analysis of the political situation in a beautiful way,” said Patel.

Patekar had begun his life in performance though school plays and sustained it through a time of family hardship. The Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai hosted some of his later performances. At the National School of Drama (NSD) in Delhi, there are memories of Patekar’s visit in 2016 for the Bharat Rang Mahotsav, the annual theatre festival. His session energised students.

“Nana Patekar came to NSD for the Living Legend Series 30 minutes before the scheduled time. He sat on the steps of Abhimanch, the main hall, and interacted informally with the students and the audience. Referring to the stage set up for the interaction session, Patekar had said, “Waha se girne ka darr rehta hai, yahan se nahin,’” recalled an NSD staffer.

Chittaranjan Tripathi, Director of the National School of Drama in Delhi said Patekar created, in many ways, his own school of acting — inspiring generations of actors. “In my younger days, after watching films like Ankur, Pratighaat, Parinda and many others, there was a time when I dreamt of acting like him. His acting had a rare quality: it seemed to speak the language of the common man. The emotions were raw, instinctive and deeply truthful, without ever feeling artificial or cliché,” Tripathi said.

“As a trained artist from JJ School of Art, he brought something more to the outer creation of a character—much like a painter who does not merely reproduce what he sees, but gives it his own form, texture and perspective. His presence, his voice, his silences, his eyes and his extraordinary understanding of human behaviour created a language unmistakably his own,” added.

One of Patekar’s more powerful roles would become Ganpat Belwalkar, a Lear-like thespian in Mahesh Manjrekar’s Natasamrat. “Can someone provide a home, a home?,” cries the great actor played by Patekar who fills the pain of ageing, suffering and pain in a protagonist passing through his final years.