Oct 08, 2026 15:28 pm IST

Blog | Nana Patekar, And The Sharp, Lasting Sting Of His 'Plain-Speak'

"Subah ghar se niklo, bheed ka hissa bano..." Nana Patekar's characters often spoke with the bluntness of men who had little patience for pretence. Just like Nana himself.

Kaveree Bamzai Kaveree Bamzai Reporter

Kaveree Bamzai Reporter

Before his 1991 directorial debut, Prahaar, about life as an army commando, Vishwanath 'Nana' Patekar trained for three years with the Maratha Light Infantry. The film, in which he played Major Chavan, would go on to have a seminal effect on a young Vikram Batra, who did an intensive 35-day course at the Commando Training School at Belgaum, now Belagavi, Karnataka. The course enabled soldiers to join the Ghatak Platoon, becoming the elite first responders of their unit in any combat situation.

It was here that Patekar shot parts of the movie, retaining a lifelong connection to soldiers who saw him join the Territorial Army. It was this movie that was a prime motivator in young Vikram's life, which made him join the army before being martyred in Kargil on July 7, 1999. It was this movie that the Belagavi railway station paid tribute to on X today, with a shot of the opening scene, which was filmed there.

Prahaar was only one of Patekar's several performances that made him stand out from other actors in the film industry in a career that repeatedly underlined his capacity for simmering silence........

© NDTV