Nana Patekar, Padma Shri Awardee, Dies At 75 Due To Severe Cardiac Arrest

Nana Patekar, who is a three-time National Awardee, died on Thursday, October 8, at 5:20 am after suffering a severe cardiac arrest at his residence. He was found unconscious at his residence in Dona Paula, Goa, and was rushed to Manipal Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Despite 45 minutes of continuous CPR, he could not be revived. A medico-legal case (MLC) has been registered, and a post-mortem will be conducted. His death was confirmed by Dr Shekhar Salkar, chief of the Oncology Department, Manipal Hospital.

Who was Nana Patekar?

Padma Shri awardee mainly worked in Hindi and Marathi cinema. He was widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in Indian cinema. Born in a Marathi family, Patekar made his acting debut in Bollywood with the 1978 drama Gaman. After acting in a few Marathi and Bollywood films, his breakthrough came with the Academy Award-nominated Salaam Bombay in 1988; he won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. Since then, there was no looking back for the veteran star.

Nana Patekar has given numerous power-packed performances in films, including Angaar, Tirangaa, Krantiveer, Agni Sakshi, Khamoshi: The Musical, Yeshwant, Ab Tak Chhappan, Apaharan and Raajneeti. In recent years, Patekar continued to feature in a range of projects. He was part of Housefull 5, which starred Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh and others. He also appeared as a police officer in Vishal Bhardwaj's O'Romeo, starring Shahid Kapoor and Triptii Dimri. In addition, he had a cameo appearance in Subedar, which stars Anil Kapoor and Radhika Madan.

Among his notable films, Nana Patekar is widely hailed for his performance as Uday Shetty in the Welcome franchise. His dialogues from the movie, particularly "Control Uday control", became a rage amongst the younger generation of audiences.

Apart from acting, he also ventured into filmmaking and made his directorial debut with Prahaar: The Final Attack (1991).

He was bestowed with the Padma Shri award in 2013 for his contribution to cinema and arts.

On the family front, Patekar was married to Neelkanti in 1978, and together they had two sons,  Durvasa and Malhar. Durvasa died at 2 years old due to illness. Later, he separated from his wife and maintains a relatively private life.