Nana Patekar, the Indian Hindi and Marathi cinema actor whose roles ranged from the menacing crime lord of “Parinda” to the comic gangster of “Welcome,” died Oct. 8, at his residence in Goa. He was 75.
Patekar went into cardiac arrest at home and was declared dead at 5:20 am local time, news agency ANI reported. “Despite 45 minutes of continuous CPR, he could not be revived,” Dr. Shekhar Salkar, chief of the oncology department at Manipal Hospital, told ANI. Salkar said a medico-legal case had been opened and an autopsy would follow.
Born Vishwanath Patekar in Murud-Janjira, in what is now in the western Indian state of Maharashtra’s Raigad district, he studied at Mumbai’s Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art. His first stage role came under director Vijaya Mehta. He made his film debut in “Gaman” in 1978 and spent the following decade in smaller Marathi and Hindi parts, including a role in Mira Nair’s Oscar-nominated “Salaam Bombay!” (1988).
His breakthrough came with “Parinda” (1989), in which he played a crime lord. The role brought him an Indian National Film Award for best supporting actor and the Filmfare award in the same category. Patekar also directed “Prahaar: The Final Attack” (1991), starring alongside Madhuri Dixit, and went through army training to prepare for his officer role.
“Krantiveer” (1994), in which he played a disgraced gambler who ends up rallying ordinary people to fight back, won him the Indian National Film Award for best actor along with Filmfare and Screen awards. A second National Award for supporting actor followed for “Agni Sakshi” (1996). The same year he played the deaf parent of Manisha Koirala in “Khamoshi: The Musical.”
He also took Filmfare’s best villain prize twice, for “Angaar” (1992) and “Apaharan” (2005). Only he and Irrfan Khan won Filmfare trophies as lead, supporting player and villain.
In the 2000s he played a police encounter specialist in “Ab Tak Chhappan” (2004) and a taxi driver opposite John Abraham in “Taxi No. 9211” (2006). With “Welcome” (2007), in which he played Uday Shetty, a mob boss with thwarted movie-star ambitions, he found a new audience, and he returned to the part in “Welcome Back” (2015). He played a politician in “Raajneeti” (2010).
In Marathi cinema, he won Filmfare Marathi best actor awards for “Dr. Prakash Baba Amte – The Real Hero” (2014) and “Natsamrat” (2016), in which he starred as an aging theater veteran. He was the Hindi voice of Shere Khan in “The Jungle Book” (2016) and appeared opposite Rajinikanth in the Tamil film “Kaala” (2018).
Later credits included “The Vaccine War” (2023), “Vanvaas” (2024) and “Housefull 5” (2025). This year he starred in series “Sankalp” on Amazon MX Player and appeared alongside Shahid Kapoor in “O’Romeo.”
Patekar received the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor, in 2013. He was commissioned into the Territorial Army in 1988 with the rank of captain. During the 1999 Kargil conflict he was posted with the Maratha Light Infantry, holding the rank of major, and had risen to lieutenant colonel by the time he left in 2013. In 2015 he launched the Naam Foundation alongside Makarand Anaspure to support Maharashtra farmers hit by drought.
His later years were also marked by controversy. Actor Tanushree Dutta accused him in 2008 of harassing her on the set of “Horn ‘Ok’ Pleassss,” and she repeated the allegation in 2018. Her accusations helped spark the #MeToo movement in the Hindi film industry. Mumbai police registered a case against Patekar and three others in October 2018 but filed a closure report in June 2019. Patekar consistently denied the allegations.
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