Nana Patekar’s passing has ended an era of Hindi cinema that few actors could occupy with such force. For Manoj Bajpayee, the loss cuts deeper: he is mourning a mentor, a sparring partner and, in his words, “an elder brother who had my back.”
Bajpayee told Filmfare he learned the news through an early text from Ram Gopal Varma. At first he hoped it was a practical joke. “I kept reading the message again and again, hoping it was wrong,” he said.
A friendship built over tea and arguments
The two met after a Filmfare Awards function around the time of Satya. Nana was happy for Bajpayee then, and later welcomed him to his modest home in Andheri, sharing advice over cups of tea about how to navigate the film industry.
They argued often, especially on Prakash Jha’s Raajneeti. Nana would question a shot if he disagreed, and Manoj would explain why he took it. “He could be offensive, but he was all heart,” Bajpayee said.
He described a man of “severe contradictions” — someone who could make you uncomfortable one minute and then say something deeply moving the next.
The kindness behind the bluntness
During the Bhopal schedule of Raajneeti, Bajpayee’s mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer. Nana went out of his way to speak to doctors and help secure better medical care. For Manoj, that gesture defined the man behind the straight-talking exterior.
Nana also asked his son Malhar to spend time with Bajpayee and listen to him, treating the younger actor as someone worth learning from — both about the industry and life.
What he gave theatre actors
For Bajpayee and other actors from the stage, Nana was proof that theatre training could hold its own in mainstream Bombay cinema. Watching his work in Ankush and Aaj Ki Awaaz, Manoj says, made taking the train to Mumbai feel possible.
That is the legacy he hopes audiences now examine more closely:
- His craft was one of a kind — Bajpayee calls him among the finest and most unique actors Indian cinema has produced.
- He made space for theatre talent — the confidence those early films gave a generation of stage actors was real.
- His care matched his bluntness — from medical help to a fiercely protective friendship.
The actor lost behind the persona
Bajpayee believes Nana’s personality often overshadowed the uniqueness of his work. “We were either completely enamoured or intimidated by the personality that he was,” he said. “In that, we forgot to see the uniqueness of his craft. He was unbeatable.”
Now, he hopes the craft gets the close reading it always deserved.
Source: Filmfare