A chilling don, a vigilante, and a sadistic wife-beater: The roles that earned Nana Patekar his 3 National Awards
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The style of acting that Nana Patekar brought to Bollywood in the 1980s was unprecedented. In an industry where slowness of dialogue delivery and ‘thehraav’ were rewarded, Nana brought the angst and rage of the 80s, channelling them through his fast-talking and imbuing his characters with unusual quirks and ticks. This led to him winning three National Movie Awards in a nine-year period. The films and the performances that won him these prestigious awards were as diverse and different as they could be. A look at the three stellar performances that made Nana Patekar a three-time National Award winner.
Adding to this, Nana Patekar won his third and final National Movie Award for Agni Sakshi in 1997. Best Supporting Star for Parinda (1989) Loosely inspired by On The Waterfront, Vidhu Vinod Chopra ’s Parinda is considered one of the first Bollywood films to set a template for how the underworld and gangsters could be depicted realistically. In this movie, Nana Patekar portrayed Anna in a manner that would pave the way for the Manoj Bajpayees and Ajay Devgns to follow suit years later. His Anna lorded over the city. He was kind, but brutal; menacing, but jovial. The kind of restraint Nana brought to this otherwise bloodthirsty character made him all the scarier. It won him his first National Award and his maiden Filmfare Award.
Meanwhile, Mehul Kumar’s Krantiveer catapulted Nana to stardom. The movie was the third-highest-grossing Hindi movie of 1994 and the first smash hit of Nana’s career as a leading man. In this movie, the star showed that he could bring ‘performance’ to even a masala entertainer. If not for Nana, Krantiveer would have been a typical 90s’ Bollywood revenge saga, with some social messaging added for good measure. But Nana elevated it to cult classic status. His lines became iconic, and his scenes are ‘widely shared’ on YouTube three decades later. In Pratap, Nana presented an evolution of Bachchan’s Angry Young Man. This one was frustrated, but not silent. The Best Star win also meant that Nana was now seen as a ‘leading man’ and not just a character star.
Notably, Bollywood made three ‘unofficial’ remakes of Julia Roberts’ Sleeping With The Enemy, all rolled out in 1996. Yaraana had Rishi Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit’s star power, while Daraar was hailed for Arbaaz Khan’s chilling debut. But the most successful and most critically acclaimed of these was Agni Sakshi, starring Nana, Manisha Koirala, and Jackie Shroff. Nana played Vishwanath, a sadistic, controlling, possessive, and abusive husband who makes his wife’s life a living hell. Even after she escapes his clutches, he stalks her and her new partner. One particular scene where Nana first assaults Madhu (Manisha) and then applies medicine to her wounds himself was a chilling display of Nana’s range as an star and the way he owned the screen without overshadowing his co-performers.
As per the latest buzz, Nana Patekar continued acting through the 2000s and 2010s, delivering many strong performances. Many are surprised that he never won another National Award , given the kind of strong presence he had in films like Ab Tak Chhappan, Kaala, and Natsamrat, to name a few. He did win a Best Villain Filmfare Award for his role as a kidnapping mafia kingpin in Prakash Jha’s Apaharan, but the National Award eluded him.
In further updates, Nana Patekar died on Wednesday morning at his Goa residence. He was found unconscious at his residence in Dona Paula, Goa, and was rushed to Manipal Hospital. Doctors attempted to revive the star for around 45 minutes but were unsuccessful. His last performance was in Vishal Bhardwaj’s O’Romeo, which rolled out earlier this year.
On top of that, Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Movie Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world. Read More
Source: Hindustan Times