Nana Patekar: 'Lost A Lot In Life Because Of My Nature'

'Nana Patekar's dedication and passion were unmatchable. I remember there was a dinner sequence and the chicken had gone stale. He ate the stale chicken instead of wasting time waiting for fresh food.' IMAGE: Nana Patekar and Seema Biswas in Khamoshi: The Musical . Key Points Nana Patekar was known for his intense dedication, once eating stale chicken to avoid production delays. He had a significant disagreement with Sanjay Leela Bhansali over casting Ranveer Singh as Bajirao and a major fallout with Prakash Jha during the making of Raajneeti over his role's length. Despite his difficult nature, Patekar also had a gentler side, enjoying cooking for friends and insisting on feeding them personally. There is a story about Nana Patekar nobody knows. When the actor heard Sanjay Leela Bhansali had cast Ranveer Singh as Bajirao in Bajirao Mastani , he called up Bhansali and berated him. 'How could you cast a non-Marathi as Bajirao? Tu aisa nahin kar sakta hai .' Bhansali had not had an easy time with Patekar during the making of his directorial debut Khamoshi The Musical even though the result was spectacular. "His dedication and passion were unmatchable. I remember there was a dinner sequence and the chicken had gone stale. He ate the stale chicken instead of wasting time waiting for fresh food," Bhansali tells Subhash K Jha . 'He sulked with Amitabh Bachchan during Kohram' IMAGE: Nana Patekar and Amitabh Bachchan in Kohram . Nana Patekar had a fall-out with many of the actors and filmmakers he worked with. He sulked with Amitabh Bachchan during Mehul Kumar's Kohram because he felt Bachchan had better lines. He had a fall-out with his best friend Prakash Jha over the length of his role in Raajneeti . Nana had an altercation with Akshay Kumar during No Entry . But there was a gentler side to Nana too. He loved to cook for his friends and sometimes, feed them with his own hands. Nana started his career with a bit role in Muzaffar Ali's Gaman . Fame came in N Chandra's Ankush and Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Parinda. After that, there was no looking back. Krantiveer (1991) made Nana a superstar. Between 1991 and 1998, he played the lead in several films. Later, flops like Yeshwant, Wajood, Yugpurush and Ghulam-E-Musthafa signaled the end of Nana's career as a leading man. Nana Patekar spoke of directing another film but never got down to it IMAGE: Nana Patekar with son Malhar. Photograph: ANI Photo Nana has directed only one film, Prahaar , in his career. He spoke of directing another film, but never got down to it. Fearless as an actor and even more fearless as an individual, Nana spoke up openly against Sanjay Dutt after the latter was granted repeated furlough from his jail term. Nana's son Malhar is an actor but Nana refused to help him in establishing a foothold in the film industry. Nana did not work with Bollywood's big players like Yash Chopra and Subhash Ghai. 'I get abusive when I'm angry' IMAGE: Nana Patekar and Ranbir Kapoor in Raajneeti . Nana Patekar and Prakash Jha were the best of friends but they had a massive fallout during the making of Raajneeti . 'I know I get abusive when I'm angry. This isn't the first time it has happened. I've tried to curb my temper but kya karoon ? I've lost a lot in life because of my nature," Nana had said. Nana explains why the duo fell out. "It started with a song. Since I play an avatar of Lord Krishna in Raajneeti , I had to do some singing for my character. My songs were recorded in Rashid Khan's voice. When I reached the location, I was told that the songs got erased by mistake. Hota hai aisa. All this is part of the shooting process. "Prakash said we'll dub it later. But I was neither prepared nor was I equipped to sing. I argued but Prakash wasn't willing to listen. I admit I was very harsh but he knows me. He has accepted me as a friend with all my blemishes." Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff