Vishwanath Patekar (born 1 January 1951), better known as Nana Patekar, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the finest and most influential actors in Indian Cinema.
He’s known for delivering dialogues brashly, and his mannerisms reflect his delivery. His ability to improvise all of his lines makes him highly regarded. He’s also known for being generous to the poor. He’s also a sketch artist, which the world doesn’t know about.
Early Life and Career
He was born on 1 January 1951, in, Maharastra, India. He did his schooling at L.S.Raheja School of Art, Mumbai. Then, he completed his graduation from the Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Arts.
Through college, he was very passionate about intercollegiate drama. Following his graduation, he starred in several Bollywood films with some of the biggest Bollywood directors.
Nana Patekar has played a lot of roles. Nana Patekar plays heroes most of the time, but occasionally he plays villains. His debut movie, Gaman (1978), was followed by a few modest appearances in Marathi films. He appeared as Nathuram Godse in the British Television series Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy.
He played prominent roles in Aaj Ki Awaz (1984), Ankush (1986), Pratighaat (1987), Mohre (1987), Trishagni (1988), Awam (1987), and Sagar Sangam (1987).
While he starred in films like Salaam Bombay and Mohre, he’s best remembered for his role as the villain in Parinda in 1989. He got his first National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and also won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his role in Parinda (1989).
He also won the Filmfare Best Villain Award for Angaar in 1992.
The 42nd National Film Festival awarded Nana Patekar two awards for his role as a ghost in Abhay, a 1994 children’s movie. He starred with Rishi Kapoor in Hum Dono (1995).
Agni Sakshi (1996), Khamoshi (1996), Ghulam-E-Mustafa (1997), Yeshwant (1997), and Wajood (1997), he played a sadistic husband, a deaf father, a gangster, and an upright but unconventional cop. He co-starred with Amitabh Bachchan in Kohram (1999) as a covert Indian Army intelligence officer chasing Bachchan. His other famous movies were Yugpurush (1998) and Hu Tu Tu (1999).
He also starred in Raajneeti (2010); a multi-star political drama directed by Prakash Jha. In 2011, he played two critically acclaimed movies: Shagird and Deool. A movie based on the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Ram Gopal Verma’s The Attacks of 26/11 (2013), features him as Joint Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria. In 2014, he starred in the Marathi movie Dr. Prakash Baba Amte – The Real Hero. In 2015, he did two sequels, Ab Tak Chhappan 2 and Welcome Back.
He played Ganpatrao Appa Belwalkar in the critically acclaimed and financially successful 2016 film Natsamrat.
In April 2022, Nana Patekar made his big screen comeback with The Confessions.
Awards
In 2013, he was awarded the Padma Shri award by the Government of India for his contribution to cinema and arts.
Patekar has won three National Film Awards and four Filmfare Awards for his acting.