Mumbai prayer meet honours Nana Patekar a week after the actor’s death in Goa

A week after veteran actor Nana Patekar died in Goa aged 75, a prayer meet in his memory brought colleagues, friends and public figures together in Mumbai on 15 October, Outlook India reported.

The venue was the PL Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy complex in Prabhadevi. Among those who attended, according to the report, were actors Shivaji Satam, Varsha Usgaonkar and Rohini Hattangadi, filmmakers Sanjay Jadhav and Mehul Kumar, and Tukaram Mundhe, Maharashtra’s FDA Commissioner.

In remarks to ANI, Mundhe recalled the actor as a person of deep sensitivity, frank in his opinions on society and keen to support people living in poverty. “He was a truly wonderful person,” Mundhe said, as quoted by Outlook India.

Circumstances of his death

PTI and The Week reported that Patekar died at his Dona Paula home, near Panaji in Goa, in the small hours of Thursday, 8 October. After he was discovered unconscious in the apartment, he was rushed to a private hospital; medical staff there attempted CPR for roughly 45 minutes before pronouncing him dead at about 5.10 am, according to the reports.

• Suspected cardiac arrest was cited as the cause (PTI, The Week)
• PTI said a medico-legal case was filed and a post-mortem was ordered
• A later Outlook India report said the autopsy reportedly linked the heart attack to a clot in a coronary artery; no second outlet has independently confirmed this
• As a matter of routine, Panaji police filed an unnatural death case, according to Deccan Herald

Malhar Patekar, his son, said the death was natural, Al Jazeera reported, carrying accounts from AP and Reuters.

Last rites with full state honours

According to Outlook India, later that day the actor was cremated at his Donje village farmhouse in Pune district, receiving full state honours that included a gun salute. His son Malhar lit the funeral pyre, and the national flag was presented to Patekar’s wife, Neelakanti Patekar. The report said Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar were present, and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also paid tribute. Jackie Shroff was among the film figures in attendance.

Filmmaker Pravin Tarde subsequently faulted the film industry for its thin turnout at the funeral, pointing out that a few thousand farmers had walked in the procession. “Bollywood is not bigger than Nana,” Tarde said, Outlook India reported.

Tributes and a long filmography

In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Patekar’s “intensity, individuality and unmistakable presence”, AP and Reuters reported. Akshay Kumar paid tribute too, saying Patekar “was one of those rare actors who never needed to do too much to make you sit up and watch,” according to the reports.

According to The Week, Patekar’s first screen role came in Gaman (1978), and his best-known work includes Parinda, Prahar, Krantiveer, Tiranga, Khamoshi: The Musical and Ab Tak Chhappan. His honours included three National Film Awards and the Padma Shri.

The death has also brought fresh focus on actor Tanushree Dutta’s 2018 #MeToo complaint, which concerned a film shoot in 2008. Patekar denied the allegation, and police closed the case for want of sufficient evidence, reports said. Outlook India and Gulf News reported that comments Dutta posted on social media after his death have attracted public criticism.

Read our earlier report: Nana Patekar dies at 75 after cardiac arrest at his Goa home.

Sources: The Week, ThePrint (PTI), Al Jazeera (AP/Reuters), Outlook India