His passing feels as though a great artist has been taken away from all of us. I was, in fact, planning my next film with him. But God had other plans. When I read the news this morning, I was completely shocked. Later, I received a phone call too. I’ve kept my office closed today. I’m at home. I don’t feel like going anywhere. All I want to say is that Nana Patekar is Krantiveer, and he always will be.
A bond beyond filmsOur relationship was beyond that of an actor and a director. We were like family. We would visit each other’s homes, and my wife used to tie him a rakhi. That’s how close we were. I will always cherish that bond. All I can say is, with the work Nana has done, jab tak suraj chaand rahega, Nana ka naam rahega (as long as the sun and moon exist, Nana’s name will live on). He will always be remembered as ‘Krantiveer’. After watching Krantiveer, Dilip Kumar saab told me, “Mehul, for as long as Nana lives, the name Krantiveer will stay with him.” And that name has stayed with him even today.
With Nana, you simply had to narrate the entire story to him, scene by scene, before the shoot. Once that was done, there was no need for further discussions on set. We didn’t even need to call the writer, and there would be no problem. The trouble would arise if you narrated one thing to him and then shot something different. That was what bothered him. If you explained every scene and told him, “This is exactly the film we are going to make,” there would be no issues on set.
Raaj Kumar was in Tirangaa too, and I never had any trouble with either of them. When I made Tirangaa, people used to say this film would never get completed, because both had such strong personalities, but we completed it. Then I made Krantiveer with Nana as the solo hero, and that was a superhit too. After that, I made Kohram with him and Amit ji. Again, there were no such problems. The main thing was to shoot what you had narrated to him. If you kept your word, everything went smoothly. That’s the case with most big actors. If you start discussing changes on set and calling in the writer, problems are bound to happen.
He was always deeply involved with his characters. Even with costumes, once you discussed the look with him, there were never any issues. For Krantiveer, I told him, “Nana, your character lives in a slum. He sleeps on a charpai and has a very simple home. Give us your old clothes. We won’t even iron them. Those are the clothes you’ll wear throughout the film.” And he wore those same old clothes throughout the film. He even brought an old pair of chappals. I got him new clothes to replace the ones he had given us. That was how deeply he involved himself in a character. You hardly hear of such things today, but those things happened back then.
I would say Nana was a man with a true heart. He was an artist, but deep inside, he was a very emotional person. Once he formed an emotional bond with someone, he was ready to do anything for them. What he couldn’t stand was lies, pretence and unnecessary drama. That was when disagreements would happen. When someone is honest at heart, they find it difficult to deal with people who are fake.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: filmfare.com
