Vishwanath "Nana" Patekar (1 January 1951 – 8 October 2026) was an Indian actor and filmmaker, who mainly worked in Hindi and Marathi cinema. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in Indian Cinema, Patekar was recipient of the three National Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards, two Maharashtra State Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards Marathi for his acting performances. He was bestowed with the Padma Shri award in 2013 for his contribution to cinema and arts industry.
After making his acting debut in Bollywood with the 1978 drama Gaman, Patekar acted in a few Marathi films and some Bollywood films. After starring in the Academy Award-nominated Salaam Bombay in 1988, he won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the crime drama Parinda (1989). He then starred in his directorial debut, Prahaar: The Final Attack (1991). Patekar starred in and received critical acclaim for his performance in several commercially successful films of the 1990s, including Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992); Angaar (1992), for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Villain; Tirangaa (1993) and Krantiveer (1994), for which he won the National Film Award for Best Actor and the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. Further acclaim came his way for Agni Sakshi (1996), for which he won his second National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor; and Khamoshi: The Musical (1996).
During the early 2000s, he received praise for his performances in Shakti: The Power (2002), Ab Tak Chhappan (2004) and Apaharan (2005); the latter of which earned him his second Filmfare Award for Best Villain, and Taxi No. 9211 (2006). Patekar received widespread praise for playing a good-hearted gangster Uday Shetty in the comedy Welcome (2007) and its sequel Welcome Back (2015), and a politician in the political thriller Raajneeti (2010). In 2016, he starred in the critically and commercially successful Marathi film Natsamrat, in which he portrayed a retired stage actor. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film.
Contents
Early life
Nana Patekar was born as Vishwanath Patekar, into a Marathi family in Murud-Janjira, in the present-day Raigad District, Maharashtra. He was an alumnus of the Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art, Mumbai.
Career
Early character roles (1978–1988)
Patekar made his debut with Gaman (1978), then did Maficha Sakshidar (Marathi 1986),
after which he did several small roles in Marathi cinema. He portrayed Nathuram Godse in the British television series Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy (1986). He also played notable roles in Aaj Ki Awaz (1984), Ankush (1986), Pratighaat (1987), Andha Yudh (1987), Mohre (1988), Trishagni (1988), Awam (1987) and Sagar Sangam (1988). His performance in Andha Yudh earned him his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Acclaimed actor (1989–2010)
During this period, his performance in Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay! (1988) earned him high praise. He also received widespread critical acclaim for his portrayal of a crime lord in the crime drama Parinda (1989), which earned him his first National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and his first Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Patekar then turned director for his film Prahaar: The Final Attack (1991), co-starring Dimple Kapadia and Madhuri Dixit, for which he underwent training for his role as an Indian Army officer. His role in Angaar (1992) earned him his first Filmfare Award for Best Villain. He co-starred alongside Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Amrita Singh in the romantic comedy Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992) and alongside industry veteran Raaj Kumar in Tirangaa (1993), both of which earned him two consecutive nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. He played a truant, gambling son in Krantiveer (1994), for which he won the National Film Award for Best Actor, the Filmfare Award for Best Actor and the Screen Award for Best Actor. Patekar portrayed a ghost in the children's film Abhay (1994), post which he co-starred with Rishi Kapoor in Hum Dono (1995). He played a sadist husband in Agni Sakshi (1996), which earned him his second National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor, a deaf father to Manisha Koirala in Khamoshi: The Musical (1996), both of which earned him two nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor, a gangster in Ghulam-E-Mustafa (1997), an honest, but maverick cop in Yeshwant (1997) and a schizophrenic in Wajood (1998). He co-starred with Amitabh Bachchan in Kohram (1999), where he played an undercover Indian Army intelligence officer chasing Bachchan's incognito. His other notable films of this decade were Yugpurush (1998) and Hu Tu Tu (1999).
He starred with Aditya Pancholi as the CBI director in the crime drama Tarkieb (2000). After a hiatus of a year he returned to acting in Shakti: The Power (2002) in which he played an extremely violent father, which earned him his second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Villain. In Ab Tak Chhappan (2004), he played a police officer who is an encounter specialist. His performance in Apaharan (2005) earned him his second Filmfare Award for Best Villain as well as the Screen Award for Best Villain. He played a taxi driver in Taxi No. 9211 (2006) opposite John Abraham. The film was a box office success, and both Patekar and Abraham were praised for their chemistry.
2007 was successful for Patekar. He starred in several comic roles, one being his highly praised performance in Welcome with Anil Kapoor, which saw him portray a powerful crime lord in Mumbai who once desired to be an actor in films. He later acted in Sangeeth Sivan's film Ek (2009).
Regional films and occasional mainstream work (2011–2026)
In 2011, he starred in the critically acclaimed Shagird and the Marathi film Deool. His next film was Ram Gopal Verma's The Attacks of 26/11 (2013) based on the events of the 2008 Mumbai Attacks in which he played Joint Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria. In 2014, he starred in another Marathi film Dr. Prakash Baba Amte – The Real Hero. In 2015, he made two sequels reprising his roles in Ab Tak Chhappan 2, sequel of Ab Tak Chhappan and Welcome Back, the sequel of Welcome, pairing with Anil Kapoor again. While Ab Tak Chhappan 2 was not commercially successful, Welcome Back was a success.
In 2016, he starred as Ganpatrao "Appa" Belwalkar in the film adaptation of the drama Natsamrat which was a major critically and commercial success. He earned two Filmfare Awards for Best Actor – Marathi for Dr. Prakash Baba Amte – The Real Hero and Natsamrat. He lent his voice for Shere Khan in the Hindi version of The Jungle Book (2016). He played a supporting role in the Tamil language action film Kaala (2018), starring Rajnikanth. It was moderately successful at the box office.
After appearing in low budget films like It's My Life (2020) and Tadka (2022), in 2023, Patekar headlined Vivek Agnihotri directed The Vaccine War, which tells about the development of Covaxin during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The film was a commercial and critical failure but Patekar's performance received high praise as Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India wrote "Nana Patekar is outstanding but the film reduces itself to being a government mouthpiece parading as a medical drama."
Patekar played a supporting role in the ensemble comedy thriller Housefull 5. The film opened to poor reception, with Lachmi Deb Roy of Firstpost, publishing a negative review, but praising Patekar's "jolly good" role as one of the film's few redeeming qualities.
At the time of his death, Patekar had been working on the upcoming crime thriller The Confession of Mary (also known as The Confession); co-producer Subhash Kale said that Patekar was expected to return to Mumbai to complete the dubbing for the film, with one line of dubbing remaining.
Singing career
Patekar did some playback singing in the films Yeshwant (1997), Wajood (1998) and Aanch (2003). He also worked with Aarav H. Kondhiya in many notable works.
Personal life
Patekar married Neelkanti in 1978, and together they had two sons; one, Durvasa, died aged 2, due to illness. Patekar's father died of a heart attack when Patekar was 28. Patekar had two brothers.
He was a chain smoker until he quit at the age of 56. In an interview, he said that his father loved plays and encouraged him to watch them, developing Patekar's love for acting. Vijaya Mehta directed his first play. Patekar remained close with his mother, Nirmala Patekar, who lived with him, until her death on 29 January 2019 at the age of 99.
Patekar joined the Territorial Army as a captain in 1988. He underwent a three-months training to prepare for the movie Prahaar, and worked with General V. K. Singh, who was a lieutenant colonel at that time and had a cameo appearance. During the Kargil War in 1999, Patekar served in the Maratha Light Infantry regiment as a major. He retired from the Territorial Army in 2013 as a lieutenant colonel.
He was separated from his wife. As per an unsubstantiated story published on an entertainment news portal he had romantic relationships with Manisha Koirala and Ayesha Jhulka.
Patekar lived in Andheri, Mumbai, in a 1BHK apartment. He considered Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar as his inspiration.
Sexual misconduct allegations
In 2018, Tanushree Dutta accused Patekar of sexually harassing her on the sets of the movie Horn 'Ok' Pleassss. Dutta's accusations led to the Me Too movement coming to Bollywood. Subsequently, she complained to the Maharashtra Women Commission and demanded an investigation into the allegations of harassment levelled by her against Patekar, Ganesh Acharya, producer Samee Siddiqui, director Rakesh Sarang, and several Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party workers. In the late hours of 1 October 2018, a FIR was registered against Patekar and three others at Oshiwara police station following a complaint by Dutta. Patekar, Acharya, Sarang and producer Samee Siddiqui were booked for molestation and obscenity under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Patekar was cleared of the charges due to lack of evidence.
Death
In the early hours of 8 October 2026, Patekar experienced severe chest pains at his home in Goa. A medical team was then dispatched to his home, where he was found unconscious. After CPR was administered, he was taken to the Manipal Hospital in Goa, where he was declared dead at 5:20 a.m. due to cardiac arrest. He was 75.
Philanthropy
Patekar was known for his philanthropy. He contributed money towards rebuilding of the flood ravaged villages in Bihar through the charitable organisation Anubhuthi. All the monetary remuneration he obtained for his performance in the movie Paathshaala was donated by him to five different charitable organisations. When he was awarded the Raj Kapoor award, which carries a cash prize of Rs 1,000,000, he donated the entire amount towards drought relief activities in Maharashtra. He also provided financial aid to families of farmers who committed suicide due to indebtedness brought about by drought. He distributed cheques worth Rs 15,000 to 62 families of farmers from Vidarbha region in August 2015, and another 113 families from Latur and Osmanabad districts of Marathwada in September 2015.
In September 2015, Patekar established the Naam Foundation, with fellow Marathi actor Makarand Anaspure, which works to provide aid to farmers overcome by drought conditions in Maharashtra.
Using a Twitter campaign with the hashtag #IcareIsupport, Patekar was able to obtain funds to help Maharashtra drought victims.
Awards and recognition
Patekar was given the Padma Shri award for his dedication in the field of Films and Arts in 2013 on the eve of the 64th Republic Day.
Patekar was given the Raj Kapoor Special Contribution Award in 2013 by the Government of Maharashtra.
Patekar, along with Irrfan Khan, was among the only actors ever to win Filmfare Awards in the Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Villain categories.