Nana Patekar acted in only 3 South Indian films in almost 5 decades of his career; know all about them and where to watch

On October 8, Nana Patekar died at the age of 75 from a cardiac arrest in Goa. Here's looking back at his rare work in South India.

Actor Nana Patekar died on October 8 at the age of 75 from a cardiac arrest in Goa. The actor, who debuted with Gaman in 1978, acted in Hindi and Marathi films for close to five decades. But once in a while, he would cave and agree to act in a South Indian film despite his apprehension. Here’s looking back at the 3 South Indian films of his long career.

Rajinikanth and Nana Patekar shared the screen in the 2018 Pa Ranjith film Kaala.

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Bommalattam (2008 - Tamil)

Directed by the late Bharathiraja, Bommalattam starred Nana in the lead role, alongside Arjun Sarja. The film, which was simultaneously shot in Hindi as Cinema. In it, Nana played an eccentric director named Rana, who becomes a prime suspect after a series of murders and a mysterious accident. When the film was eventually released only in Tamil and in Telugu as Rana, it received criticism for being filmed mostly in Hindi. The Hindi version of the film was released a decade later with a new title, Final Cut of Director. Both versions flopped at the box office, but Nana was praised for his performance.

Yaksha (2011 - Kannada)

Ramesh Bhagawathar directed Yaksha, which also starred Yogesh and Ruby Parihar. The film tells the story of a college student named Yaksha Raj Pulikeshi who infiltrates an underworld gang. Nana’s character, a police officer named Yaksha Raj Pulikeshi, only appears later in the tale. Instead of using a dubbing artist, the actor dubbed his own lines in Kannada for the film. The actor would write his Kannada dialogues in Hindi, and his co-star, Girish Mattannavar, would coach him on diction. He would even paste a paper written with dialogues on Girish’s chest so he could read it. The film was a disappointment at the box office.

Where to watch: YouTube

Kaala (2018 - Tamil)

The final South Indian film of Nana’s career has to be his most popular one, too. Directed by Pa Ranjith and produced by Dhanush, he faced off against Rajinikanth in a social drama that has since become a cult hit. Nana’s portrayal of the soft-spoken gangster-turned-politician Haridev Abhayankar, unlike his usually over-the-top roles, remains memorable. The film set in Dharavi was timely in its message, though it performed below expectations at the box office. Nana almost said no to Kaala because he was sceptical about playing the antagonist. However, Rajinikanth changed his mind by telling him nobody would look at him while Nana was performing.

Where to watch: Prime Video, JioHotstar

Nana was also supposed to star in Lingusamy’s 2008 Vikram and Trisha Krishnan-starrer Bheemaa, but he was replaced by Prakash Raj. While there were rumours of him turning down ₹20 crore to star in SS Rajamouli’s Varanasi with Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra and Prithviraj Sukumaran, the actor himself shut down these rumours by telling News18 it’s not true.

In 2023, at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in Thiruvananthapuram, Nana expressed interest in working in Malayalam and said, “Not even a single director from here (Kerala) has ever approached me in the last 50 years. That means I have to improve as an actor. I will try my best and will not let you down.” That dream of his remained unfulfilled.