Nana Patekar, one of Indian cinema’s most intense and unmistakable performers, died in the early hours of Thursday, 8 October 2026, at his home in Goa. He was 75. His son, Malhar Patekar, confirmed the death after the actor suffered a cardiac arrest. He was declared dead at around 5:20 am, according to Dr Shekhar Salkar of Manipal Hospital. Doctors had tried to revive him for 45 minutes.
Police registered a medico-legal case, as is routine in such cases, and ordered a post-mortem. His son said the actor died of natural causes. Patekar had addressed a theatre event in Goa only days earlier, speaking about the need to keep the performing arts alive.
From the Marathi stage to the national screen
Born Vishwanath Patekar on 1 January 1951 in Murud-Janjira, Maharashtra, he was an alumnus of the Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art in Mumbai. He came to cinema through Marathi theatre and made his Hindi film debut with Gaman in 1978. Recognition took time, but when it arrived, it was emphatic.
He won his first National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing the gangster Anna in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Parinda. He won Best Actor for Krantiveer and a second Best Supporting Actor award for Agni Sakshi, in which he played a controlling, abusive husband. In all, he collected three National Awards and four Filmfare Awards. His work in Angaar earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Villain.
His range ran well beyond menace. He played a deaf father in Khamoshi: The Musical and directed and co-wrote the military drama Prahaar: The Final Attack. Later, a younger audience met him as the comic don Uday Shetty in Welcome, the film in which he shared the screen with Akshay Kumar. The government recognised his contribution to cinema with the Padma Shri in 2013.
Beyond the screen
In 2015, Patekar co-founded the NAAM Foundation with fellow Marathi actor Makarand Anaspure, in response to the farm distress and drought in Maharashtra. The foundation has supported drought-hit villages, farmers, water conservation and families affected by farmer suicides. For many admirers, this work defined him as much as his roles did.
The Tanushree Dutta allegation
Any account of his legacy must also record the 2018 allegation by actress Tanushree Dutta, who accused him of inappropriate conduct during the 2008 shoot of Horn ‘Ok’ Please. Patekar consistently denied it.
Mumbai Police later filed a closure report, citing a lack of credible evidence. Dutta challenged it with a protest petition. On 7 March 2025, an Andheri magistrate declined to take cognisance, ruling that the complaint, lodged in October 2018 over an incident in March 2008, was time-barred and that no application had been made to explain the delay. The court did not consider the merits of the police closure report. The allegation was therefore never tested at trial, and it remains a matter on which readers will hold differing views.
Tributes and farewell
Tributes came from across politics and film. Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised his “intensity, individuality and unmistakable presence”. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant called the death a huge loss for the country, and a state funeral was planned. Akshay Kumar, who worked with him on Welcome and Housefull 5, offered an emotional tribute.
Patekar is survived by his son, Malhar, and by his wife, from whom he was separated. His career spanned nearly five decades, and his best work remains a reminder of what he did with a glare, a pause or a sudden shout: he made audiences feel something, and he rarely let them look away.
References:
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Note: Reference numbers in the text correspond to the list above. Sources were accessed in October 2026.