Nana Patekar, a veteran Indian actor known for his fiery performances in Bollywood films and theatre, has died. He was 75. Patekar was found unconscious at his home in the coastal state of Goa early Thursday morning, and doctors were unable to revive him, according to local media reports.
The Nana Patekar dead news was confirmed by hospital officials. He died of cardiac arrest, though it was unclear what triggered it, according to Dr. Shekhar Salkar, chief of the oncology department at Manipal Hospital, where Patekar was brought. He was born Vishawanath Patekar but was popularly known as Nana, and he began his career performing theatre in Marathi, the language of his home state of Maharashtra.
Patekar acted in several of India’s arthouse films in the 1970s and ’80s, including Mira Nair’s award-winning Salaam Bombay, before moving into mainstream Bollywood with films including Parinda (1989), Krantiveer (1994), Ab Tak Chhappan (2004), and Welcome (2007). He shared the screen with actors such as Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, excelling in both serious and comic roles. His trademark aggression and forceful dialogue won him several national and regional film awards. Actor Akshay Kumar, who worked with Patekar on multiple films, said: “He was one of those rare actors who never needed to do too much to make you sit up and watch. That voice, that intensity, that honesty in every performance… he was completely his own.”
