Nana Patekar’s death on October 8, 2026, at 75 has prompted colleagues to share memories of an actor whose naturalism crossed Marathi and Hindi cinema. Among them is Kishori Shahane Vij, who knew him from her early theatre days and later worked with him as his on-screen wife.
A first meeting in the wings
Vij told The Times of India that she first saw Patekar at Ravindra Natya Mandir, where his play Purush was running and she had a show of another production. “I saw him for the first time there, he was playing a very scary character, so I was a little scared and just said hello,” she said.
The caution faded as their paths kept crossing. “Later we became co-actors,” she recalled, adding that Purush was a rage at the time.
A lesson in natural performance
Vij said she worked with Patekar in Hindi films and shared screen space with him as his wife. The lasting takeaway was his craft: nothing looked made up. “The way he would perform a scene so naturally, I learnt that from him. Nothing looked made-up, whether he was delivering a dialogue or just moving normally, there was no difference,” she said.
That quality, she suggested, is why his characters have stayed in memory: the line between performance and behaviour disappeared.
A family friendship
Off camera, the association was personal. Her husband, director-producer Deepak Balraj Vij, produced Sheela, and Patekar’s first trip abroad was for that film. The families visited his homes in Mumbai and Pune and attended his Ganpati celebrations together.
- His play Purush became a Marathi theatre rage, and Vij first saw him in it at Ravindra Natya Mandir.
- Vij worked with him as his on-screen wife and absorbed his naturalistic style.
- He became a family friend through Deepak Balraj Vij’s film Sheela and Ganpati gatherings.
From farmer’s son to legend
Vij called him a legend and pointed to the distance he travelled. “Coming from a very humble, farmer family background and making his name, his space in Marathi cinema and later in the Hindi film industry, it was really great,” she said. She also remembered his social work for the downtrodden.
Patekar’s death is a reminder of how much Hindi cinema’s senior generation owed to Marathi theatre. The path Vij describes—a stage hit, then film, then a long professional and personal community—shaped many durable careers.
For audiences, the tribute is also a viewing cue. Patekar’s craft, as Vij remembers it, was in the ordinary moments—a walk, a line delivered without scenery-chewing. That is the throughline to look for when revisiting the characters he left behind.
Such networks were part of the industry’s infrastructure, carrying theatre-trained actors into film and keeping them close off set.
Patekar died after a severe cardiac arrest on October 8, 2026, at 75. Vij said his passing is a “huge loss” to the industry.
Source: The Times of India
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