New Delhi: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan recalled how Nana Patekar once slapped his hand away when he was fiddling with his hair, saying it was “out of awe”, when the two first met during the shoot of Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992).
“Hero ki tarah baal mat bana… tu actor hai,” Nana told him, Khan recalled.
Khan remembers Nana
Nana died aged 75 due to cardiac arrest on Thursday at his Goa residence. Khan shared a heartfelt note remembering the actor, saying he never flattered anyone.
“He told you what you needed to hear. That was Nana. Straightforward. Rough, honest, and had the most beautiful smile,” Khan wrote.
Khan also shared a picture from his first collaboration with Nana in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman. The film also starred Juhi Chawla and Amrita Singh.
Khan played Raju, a diploma holder who dreams of becoming a successful engineer in Bombay, while Nana played Jai, a street performer who becomes Raju’s guide during his journey through the city.
Khan said Nana had a strange way of showing affection.
“He would shout at you first, and then somewhere between the third or fourth insult, you realised you were being hugged. He loved me, and I loved him back,” he wrote.
Also Read: Nana Patekar’s Tamil cinema journey – From Bommalattam to Kaala
‘A mentor, a teacher, a critic’
Khan added that Nana was a mentor, teacher, critic and friend who won against him and everyone else in carrom, game after game.
“Nana, your intensity, laughter, madness and love will always stay with us. I just wish we had time to have more conversations, another argument, another cup of tea and a game of carrom,” he wrote.
Khan said Nana had left a void not only in the world of cinema but also in the hearts of Indians and people across the world.
“All I say is, I will miss you dearly and carry your words in my heart till the end of time… “Hero banne ke chakar mein actor mat khona.”
“Heaven will be blessed to have you… a masterful actor and an unbearable carrom champion,” he added.
Edited by Maryam Hassan