Nana Patekar’s death has left his fans and colleagues mourning one of Indian cinema’s most distinctive performers. For cancer care professional, activist and actor Viji Venkatesh, however, the loss is also deeply personal. In a moving tribute, she remembered not only the actor who could transform himself into characters good, bad or funny, but also the uncomplicated man who welcomed young cancer patients into his home during Ganesh festival celebrations.

Viji Venkatesh, who is known for her work in cancer care and activism and made her film debut at the age of 71, was in the US when she received the news of Nana Patekar’s death.

“After hours of flying over international waters and being incommunicado I’ve just landed in the US and this news flashes on my phone and my heart breaks!” she wrote.

For Viji, Nana Patekar was more than the name audiences knew. Remembering him by his birth name, Vishwanath Patekar, she described an actor who had the rare ability to make almost any character come alive.

“When good he made you feel safe and secure, when bad he sent chills down your spine and when funny, you forgave him even the worst jokes because he made them so cool,” she recalled.

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She also pointed to another facet of Nana’s screen persona: his ability to play romance with the same conviction with which he played intense dramatic roles. Viji recalled his popular exchange with Bindu in ‘Krantiveer’, where his character compares her to “old wine”.

From ‘Khamoshi’ to ‘Welcome’

Viji’s tribute touched upon several performances that came to define Nana Patekar’s career.

She remembered him as the anguished father in ‘Khamoshi: The Musical’, the menacing Anna in ‘Parinda’ and the lovable gangster Uday Shetty in ‘Welcome’.

Each role, she noted, revealed a different side of an actor who could move effortlessly between intensity, menace, humour and romance.

“Whether it was the anguished father in Khamoshi, the terrible Anna in Parinda or the loveable gangster in Welcome he held his fans in his thrall,” she wrote.

But it was the man away from the cameras that Viji chose to remember most.

‘Then there was this other Nana’

Beyond the actor celebrated for his powerful performances, Viji remembered Nana as a “very, very simple and uncomplicated human being”.

She recalled visiting his home in Matunga during the ten-day Ganesh festival in Mumbai. According to Viji, his home would be open to visitors during the celebrations, including young cancer patients whom she would accompany for darshan.

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Nana, she said, would personally welcome them.

 

Viji remembered his “disarming charm” during these interactions and also recalled taking her mother to his home many years ago. Her mother, too, was touched by the actor’s warmth.

The memory offers a glimpse of a side of Nana Patekar that audiences rarely saw on screen: a star who, according to Viji’s recollection, was comfortable welcoming people into his personal space and spending time with them without the distance often associated with celebrity life.

‘There’s so much life to be lived yet’

Nana’s age at the time of his death also prompted a deeply personal reflection from Viji.

“Is 75 an age to go?” she asked, adding that she herself would soon turn 75 and felt there was still “so much life to be lived yet”.

She said Nana had many more years to contribute to both his craft and the community, making his death feel particularly unfair to her.

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For Viji, his greatest legacy was not limited to the films and characters that made him a household name. She remembered him as a “people’s man”, someone who enjoyed the company of friends and regarded almost everyone as a friend.

Her tribute ended with a simple farewell to an actor whose work touched generations of viewers.

“Rest in Power, Nana! Thank you for all you gave to Indian cinema and to all of us who loved and admired you,” she wrote.