Death is something most people spend their lives trying not to think about. The loss of a loved one, the passing of a familiar face or even the thought of our own mortality can leave us searching for answers. For Nana Patekar, however, the thought of death came with a certain acceptance.
The actor died at 5:20 am on Thursday. He was 75 years old.
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In a throwback interview with Siddharth Kannan around the release of VanavasThe veteran actor spoke about death, losing those around him and the curious nature of his profession.
“I am not afraid of death. Whenever I have to die, I will die,” said Nana.
Acknowledging that several actors had died recently, he admitted that their deaths affected him. Yet, along with the sadness, there was also an awareness that death is inevitable.
“Everybody around me is gone. A lot of artists have passed away. I feel bad about that, but then I also think that my time will come. I will die someday,” he said.
“We have a camera to express our emotions. All the frustrations we feel, all the emotions we have locked away, we express them through acting. We are lucky,” he added.
“In return, we get praise, applause and money. We become famous, and people start loving us. But we are just selling our bottled emotions,” he concluded.
Death of Nana Patekar
Nana Patekar died of a heart attack at his residence in Goa on Thursday morning. According to reports, he contacted a friend in the early hours after feeling unwell and was rushed to Manipal Hospital. Doctors reportedly tried to revive him for about 45 minutes.
His dead body was later taken to Pune. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis paid tributes at the airport before the actor’s body was taken by road to the family farmhouse in Donje village.
The funeral was attended by political leaders, members of the film industry and over 1,000 fans. His body was draped in the tricolor, and a marching band accompanied the procession. A 21-gun salute was fired by women police officers during the ceremony.
Fans had started arriving at the venue since afternoon, waiting for hours to pay their last respects. Chants of “Nana Patekar Amar Rahe” rang out at the funeral as people gathered to bid farewell to the veteran actor.
Among those present were Maharashtra Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar, Union Ministers Muralidhar Mohol and Ramdas Athavale and Ministers of State Chandrakant Patil, Uday Samant and Madhuri Misal. Apart from actors Jackie Shroff and Praveen Tarde, Kiran Yadav was also present.
Arrangements were made to manage the massive gathering, including a raised platform for the funeral, a tent for dignitaries, barricades to control the crowd and a large screen for members of the public. Many establishments in and around Khadakwasla remained closed to facilitate the last rites.