Nana Patekar, the veteran Hindi and Marathi actor whose performances became benchmarks of intensity, died on Thursday at 75. He suffered a cardiac arrest at his Goa home and passed away at 5:20 am, Dr Shekhar Salkar, head of Oncology at Manipal Hospital, told ANI. His wife, Neelakanti Patekar, and their son, Malhar, survive him.
Neelakanti’s less-told acting record
The tributes are rightly focused on Nana Patekar’s body of work, but the family’s cinematic record has another name. Neelakanti Patekar built her own career in Marathi theatre and films. Born in Pune, she spent her childhood across several cities because of her father’s postings in the Central Excise Department. She studied Physics and, when her father urged her to try the IIT entrance exam, she cleared it. Theatre was the call she answered instead.
- Cleared the IIT entrance exam, then chose the stage over engineering
- Won the Gold Medal for Best Actress at the Maharashtra State Drama Competition in 1973
- Won the Maharashtra State Government Best Actress award for Aatm Vishwas (1989)
- Returned to acting in Chhaava as Dharau
In 1989’s Aatm Vishwas, she starred opposite Sachin Pilgaonkar, who also directed the film.
A marriage that lasted, even after they grew apart
Nana and Neelakanti met on the Marathi stage; she was working as a bank officer and acting alongside her job. They married in 1978. Their early years carried both joy and grief: the couple lost their first child at two and a half, and Malhar was born later.
They never divorced, but over time they chose to live apart. In an earlier interview with The Indian Express, Nana Patekar described their bond with unusual candour, saying the two supported each other through difficult years but ultimately developed “certain irreconcilable differences and grew apart,” while remaining married.
Why the full record matters
For readers who follow Hindi cinema closely, Neelakanti’s story is a reminder of how much of Marathi stage and film history sits just behind the better-known Bollywood headlines. Her choice to turn away from an IIT track toward the arts, and the state-level recognition that followed, gives the Patekar family legacy a second, independent line. As the industry pauses for Nana Patekar, his wife’s return in Chhaava also brings that parallel career back into view.
Source: The Times of India
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