Director Suresh Triveni and Nana collaborated on the 2026 action-drama film Subedaar. Patekar made a striking retro special cameo appearance in the film as Lance Naik Nana Waghmare. Suresh tells us, “I was fortunate to work with him and he readily agreed. His bond with Anil Kapoor was incredible and he told me clearly, ‘Main yeh karunga toh Anil ke liye arkunga.’ It was honourary, he did it as a favour to us. We shot his scenes in Mumbai rather than Chambal. We shot at JW Marriott, while also shooting for Vishalj Bhardwaj's O Romeo. He had got his dabba and was eating it in between speaking to me. He loved talking about food. He wrapped his portions in two-and half hours. He had to stand on a tall surface because we were to add VFX. He played a soldier and knew how to uncock the gun. He said ‘yeh mujhe mat sikha main jaanta hoon’ and just did it quickly. "
On an emotional note he says, “There was a certain warmth and for me it was a bucket list tick to see him and Anil sir together. Anil sir gave him cues for the shot though he was not needed there. That scene echoed in the climax and a lot of people reached out to me that they were surprised. The idea was to have multiple cameos in that scene but once he came on board he is equivalent to many.”