Remembering Nana Patekar: 10 Defining Roles Of The National Award-Winning Actor

Multiple National Award-winning actor Nana Patekar leaves behind a rich, staggering body of work. He effortlessly leaped between comic and grotesque roles, outright villainy and sly manipulations. He was capable of throwing you askew with the most volatile shifts, the way he let the quiet linger in uncomfortable suspense.

Here's a round-up of his celebrated work over the decades.

This film, wherein he essayed a crime lord, shot him to the spotlight. Vidhu Vinod Chopra's classic gave Patekar one of his definitive roles ever. As the ruthless gangster Anna, he towers over the film. The role brought him an Indian National Film Award for best supporting actor and the Filmfare award in the same category.

In his portrayal of Pratap Narayan Tilak, Patekar plays a troubled man who ultimately stands up against corruption and injustice. Patekar brings a fury that almost seems to smash the screen. The pure, blasting confrontational force in his performance is unforgettable. This got him the Indian National Film Award for best actor along with Filmfare and Screen awards.

Patekar plays Vishwanath, a man who believes he has full rights over abusing and domineering over his wife. As the woman asserts her unwilligness, he takes it as permission to exert himself even more. Patekar brings a deeply unpleasant intensity that keeps building. He bagged another national award for best supporting actor.

Patekar's encounter specialist Sadhu Agashe effortlessly mixes humour and mundane with horrific acts of violence. Directed by Shimit Amin, the film is powered by the actor's easy conviction. You settle into this cop's company until you realise the terrifying snares he sets. Patekar dials up the discomfort in a masterfully calibrated performance.

As Uday Shetty in the Anees Bazmee blockbuster, Patekar unleashes comic chaos. He's an underworld don who's desperate to get his sister married. The fact he had thwarted movie-star ambitions makes the situations even more fun. The actor mines absurdity in the hapless. All Shetty desires is to be taken seriously and be feared. But that hardly happens, sending him into vexed fits. Patekar's scenes with Anil Kapoor's Majnu are grumpy comic gold.

Before becoming one of Bollywood's most celebrated directors, Sanjay Leela Bhansali made his debut with Khamoshi: The Musical in 1996. The film tells the story of a young woman growing up with parents who are both deaf and explores the complicated relationship between family, love and communication.

Nana Patekar played Joseph, the girl's deaf father who cannot speak, opposite Seema Biswas. Manisha Koirala and Salman Khan were also part of the cast.

The movie slumped at the box office when it first arrived. Over the years, however, its emotional depth, music and performances have earned it a more appreciative audience. Patekar's restrained portrayal of Joseph is one of the film's strongest elements. He conveys the dependence with aching insistence.

Patekar took on the role of Ganpatrao Belwalkar, an iconic theatre actor whose retirement forces him to confront a new and uncertain chapter of life. The Marathi film muses on ageing, family, dignity, and the painful loss of an identity built through years of performing. Patekar's performance is key to the wistful grandeur this film strikes. He lends it a somber dignity.

Patekar plays Major Chauhan in this military drama, which he also directed and co-wrote. It was his directorial debut. Patekar zeroes into the tight discipline, the military regimen with unbending rigour.

Nana Patekar brings an icy authority to Brij Gopal in Prakash Jha’s Mahabharata-inspired political drama. Playing a behind-the-scenes operator rather than a conventional hero or villain, he's in masterful form as a strategist. His Brij Gopal is supremely tactful, always quietly assessing The performance is built not on volume but on control, with Patekar turning silence and restraint into sources of menace. Against the film’s younger ensemble, he stands apart as its most seasoned political presence—a character driven by strategy, ambition and a striking lack of sentiment.

In Mira Nair's Oscar-nominated classic, Patekar’s Baba is a drug dealer and pimp whose calm exterior often gives way to brutality. He exploits those around him, from Chillum and Rekha to his own child, Majnu, rendering him one of the film’s most deeply corrupt figures. Patekar makes the display of amoral excesses as riveting as ever.