What Lies Beneath: ‘Nana Patekar’

“In the prequel, my character was 42-43, now he’s 60, he must have been in jail, was perhaps punished forcases against him so it’s a different time and space. Now he’s both a father and mother to his son, is totally dejected, doesn’t have any connections with anybody and is in a small village away from the city,” explains Patekar as he vividly describes his character.“Earlier, there were scams worth `5, 10, 20 crores, now not only are there scams of thousands of crores, but literate people are also engaged in crimes.

Formerly, mostly unemployed, illiterate people were criminals, but now highly educated people are becoming criminals so it’s all the more difficult to deal with them. My character is called to solve certain problems and the film is about how he deals with those problems,” said Patekar after much prodding.

Playing an encounter specialist is no mean feat and like most actors, initially, Patekar adequately geared himself for his role, met other police personnel and tried to understand their psyche while prepping for the film’s prequel. “I tried to understand how they come to terms with the trauma that surrounds killing someone, how it’s possible for them to eat after killing somebody, go home, help with your child’s homework and even be lovey, dovey with your wife.”

Contrary to reports, Patekar does not play Gul Panag’s father in the film in Ab… she is his friend’s daughter. “She’s not my daughter, but I’m protective about her,” he explains, again, choosing to be vague while still stressing that Panag too has a significant role in the film. But that’s not all, Patekar has a host of other films lined up, which include Welcome Back, his first production Natasamrat, directed by Mahesh Manjrekar and Dr. Prakash Baba Amte – The Real Hero, which has just been filmed in Hindi.

It’s definitely raining sequels for him with Welcome Back also about to hit the screens on May 29. Patekar plays the same character as in Welcome (2007), that of a don. “You can’t narrate the story of any comedy because there is no story as such.Basically the characters have essentially become disciplined now and the kind of problems they face because of that,” said Patekar who refuses to divulge any more. But ask him about turning producer for Natasamrat, in which he plays an actor and Patekar’s face lights up as he explains his reasons for choosing to fund the film, which is originally inspired by a play of the same name.

“Instead of taking remuneration, I decided to be a partner, which will make it easier for my producer who doesn’t need to pay me. I’m taking the risk of making the filmand will share the profits if it does well.” Patekar has been known to pull off varied roles with ease, right from playing a hearing impaired father in Khamoshi: The Musical (1996), to the Joint Commissioner of Police in 26/11 or pretending to be the estranged son in Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal. “An actor must have the capacity to do any damn thing. I don’t think I can run around trees, sing and dance although I did that in Welcome and now once again in Welcome Back,” concludes Patekar. A man for all seasons, indeed.