In a 2015 Trade Guide sit‑down, Nana Patekar let the camera see the man behind the monologue, refusing the siren of politics. He said, "Acting gives me a platform; politics would cage my voice."
But he didn’t stop there. The actor explained that a party would force him to defend every misstep of its members, even turning cow dung into ‘Shrikhand’ to appease the media. “I’ll never be told what to say,” he warned, and that was the crux of his refusal.
And it wasn’t just theory; his friendship with Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray—whom he described as a father—tested his resolve. When Patekar challenged Thackeray’s statement, he feared retribution, yet nothing happened, proving that truth can survive even in a patriarchal party.
Now the film world mourns a man who used his voice to question the status quo. After a cardiac arrest in Goa, his funeral will be a state‑honoured affair at his Pune farmhouse, a fitting tribute to an icon who chose the silver screen over the political arena.