Leaders across the spectrum yesterday condoled the demise of veteran actor Nana Patekar, calling it a great loss to Indian cinema ,while Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was a ‘Krantiveer’ who attacked social evils through films.

President Droupadi Murmu said Patekar’s commitment to social service reflected his concern for the underprivileged, according to a PTI report from New Delhi.

“Through his powerful and deeply evocative performances, he brought to life a wide range of human experiences. He portrayed characters that left a lasting imprint on the hearts and minds of people,” she said in a post on X.

Nana Patekar, a veteran Indian actor known for his fiery performances in Bollywood films and theatre, died yesterday aged 75, local media reported, a Reuters dispatch stated.

Patekar was ‌found unconscious at his home in the coastal state of Goa early on Thursday (oct. 8) morning and doctors were unable to revive him, news agency ANI and other media reported, Reuters said.

He died of cardiac arrest, but it was unclear what triggered it, ⁠Shekhar Salkar, chief of the oncology department at the Manipal Hospital, where Patekar was brought

Born Vishawanath Patekar, but popularly known as Nana, he started his career doing theatre in Marathi, the language spoken in his home state of Maharashtra, which is also home to Bollywood.

Patekar acted in several of India’s arthouse movies in the 1970’s and 80’s, including Mira Nair’s award-winning ‘Salaam Bombay’ ‌before ⁠moving to mainstream Bollywood.

He played a variety of roles, sharing screen space with actors such as Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan and excelling in both serious and comic roles.

His performances, marked by trademark ⁠aggression and forceful dialogue, won him several national and regional film awards.

Meanwhile, other PTI reports from Mumbai, stated that many industry people paid their respects to Nana. Maharashtra Chief Minister received Patekar’s body in Mumbai when it was brought from Goa yesterday.

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan paid a heartfelt tribute to the senior actor, remembering his ‘Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman’ co-star as a “masterful actor and an unbeatable carrom champion”, who gave him invaluable advice very early on in his career.

“Hero banne ke chakar mein actor mat khona’ (Don’t lose the actor in you while pursuing stardom),” recalled Shah Rukh, describing his meeting before they collaborated on the 1992 romantic comedy.

“When I first met him, out of awe and awkwardness I fiddled with my hair. He slapped my hand away and said ‘hero ki tarah baal mat bana…tu actor hai’! He didn’t flatter you. He didn’t tell you what you wanted to hear. He told you what you needed to hear.

“That was Nana. Straightforward. Rough, honest and had the most beautiful smile,” Shah Rukh said in a post on X.

According to the superstar, Patekar had a strange way of showing affection.

“He would shout at you first, and then somewhere between the third or fourth insult, you realised you were being hugged. He loved me and I loved him back. He was a mentor, a teacher, a critic and a friend who beat me and everyone else around him in carrom game after game and relished his victories,” SRK said.

Shah Rukh, who also worked with the veteran star in the 2002 movie ‘Shakti: The Power’, said Patekar’s death leaves a void not only in the world of cinema but in the hearts of all Indians and the world.

Filmmaker Muzaffar Ali still remembers the moment he spotted Nana Patekar’s electrifying performance in the Marathi version of the play ‘3 Penny Opera’ and instantly decided to cast him in ‘Gaman’.

The 1978 drama movie was the debut project for both Ali and Patekar, who delivered a string of acclaimed performances in movies such as ‘Parinda’, ‘Krantiveer’ and ‘Yeshwant’.

Filmmaker Anil Sharma said that veteran actor Nana Patekar wanted to act in his next two directorials — ‘Gadar 3’ and ‘Arjun Naga’.

Sharma worked with Patekar on the 2023 blockbuster ‘Gadar 2’, headlined by Sunny Deol, for which he lent his voice, and later reunited with him for the 2024 family drama ‘Vanvaas’.