He has had three releases this year and two are on the verge of release.
Nana Patekar a man of few words says “Yes I have done a lot of work this year. Five films in a year is almost like I have worked for eight years now” After a stupendous performance in Prakash Jha’s Apaharan it is heard that he will not only be scriopting Jha’s next film but will be directing it too.
Prakash Jha was so impressed with Nana not only as an actor but as a human being too When commented Nana just smiles and says ” We had a great rapport. but I will talk about it when the film goes on the floors in December. Right now I am busy with Bharati Raja’s next film Cinema.
“The film as you can assume is about cinema. I play the role of a finicky
director who is very different and lives life on h is own terms. The star of the film threatens him that he will walk out of the film. I just throw him out of the sets and challenge him that I will make a star out of a man from the streets.”
Is this character an extension of your real life?
Nana laughs and says “yes” to some extent it is and to some extent the character resembles Bharati Raja As an actor I am just the opposite. I am very sober and am a puppet in the hands of the director. I do what he says. I don’t like to make improvisations since the director has his own version of the character and I wouldn’t want to disturb that” Speaking about the director Bharati Raja he adds “Bharati Raja is an excellent director he has given wonderful films like Solwa Saawan, Love and Red Rose. I think he is the only director whose six films had music by A.R.Rehman.
The director does not speak either Hindi or English but is very expressive that you can understand what he wants in a shot.. He is not very verbose and has few dialogues in his film. but has an exceptional visual sense He also has a stupendous sense of shot division. His images and framing and anti climax is fantastic.
Cinema is a film of different genre. Though an out and out commercial film it is a murder
mystery a thriller. It has man twists and turns and has a shocking climax..”Bharati Raja was very adamant that I do this film. He says that he visualised me when he had the script in hand.
He also wants to remake it in Tamil with me.” says Nana. and goes on to add “I like working with such sincere directors. To a certain extent we are very similar in nature.”What about your forthcoming films we ask? I have Yatra In this film I’m a writer travelling to Delhi. It’s about his interaction with various characters.
It’s the story of a writer’s emotional and topographical journey. It’s a strange kind of film. I’ve an amazing role. After a long, long time I’m doing a role that challenges me to this extent. As an actor I’ve seldom been so excited recently. Then there’s Saamna the shooting of which hasn’t begun as yet and I have one more release this year titled Welcome”.he quips.
