Veteran actor Nana Patekar dies at 75 after cardiac arrest

Nana Patekar, a fixture of Indian cinema for fifty years, died at seventy-five on October 8th after suffering severe cardiac arrest at his home. Medical staff performed continuous cardiopulmonary resuscitation for forty-five minutes, but the actor could not be revived, according to Dr. Shekhar Salkar, Chief of the Oncology Department at Manipal Hospital.

Patekar's career had taken him across multiple film industries—Hindi, Marathi, and Tamil—building a body of work that ranged from crime dramas to comedies to intimate character studies. He began in 1978 with the Hindi film Gaman, but his breakthrough came years later with Parinda, a crime drama in which he played a gangster. That role opened doors to commercially successful films like Welcome and Welcome Back, as well as critically respected work such as Raajneeti. In 2016, he earned fresh acclaim for his performance in the Marathi film Natsamrat, demonstrating that his range had not diminished with age.

His reach extended beyond Hindi and Marathi cinema. Patekar made his Tamil debut in 2008 with the bilingual film Bommalattam, and later appeared alongside Rajinikanth in Kaala, released in 2018. Beyond acting, he also worked as a director, helming the film Prahaar: The Final Attack. By any measure, his career had been expansive and sustained across decades.

Yet there remained one corner of Indian cinema he never entered: Malayalam film. In recent months, Patekar had attended the opening ceremony of the 28th International Film Festival of Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram, where he spoke about his long connection to the state. He recalled visiting Kerala thirty-two years earlier for a film shoot, and how the experience had stayed with him. "Since then, nothing has changed in the social and political situation," he said, as reported by Mathrubhumi News. "People think more with their hearts. So, even though the languages are different, it is easy to communicate. That is how it should be."

During that same appearance, Patekar addressed the fact that in his fifty-year career, not a single Malayalam director had approached him with an offer. He spoke about it with characteristic humor, turning the observation into a kind of self-deprecating challenge. "That means I have to improve as an actor," he said. "I will try my best and I will not disappoint you." It was a remark that suggested openness, even eagerness, to work in a film industry he had never explored. That opportunity will not come now.