How ₹80 lakh in one day launched Naam Foundation

In 2015, Nana Patekar set aside ₹1.5 crore to buy a luxury car. His years of hard work in Marathi theatre and Hindi cinema had earned him fame and funds. But it was a television report of a farmer who had committed suicide in Maharashtra and the suffering of the family he had left behind that made the actor rethink how to spend his money.

He had initially planned to donate ₹15,000 each to 1,000 farmers in distress. But one friend encouraged him to meet the widows of farmers who had died by suicide before handing over the cheques to understand their plight better. The stories of the families who had lost a breadwinner and often struggled with debts, hunger and the burden of continuing their lives made Patekar think. Naam Foundation comes into play, as actor Makarand Anaspure and Patekar launched the foundation in September 2015, which had amassed nearly ₹80 lakh in just one day, when its bank account was opened.

Patekar and Anaspure began by donating directly to the affected families. Before officially launching Naam Foundation, the two actors had already helped families in Latur and Osmanabad. Contemporary reports from September 2015 said they had helped 113 families. Patekar said the list of families grew as they tried to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi. He had planned to give cheques to 800 people, but there were about 30 more names that needed to be added every month. Patekar felt that the government’s help was not enough. He asked people to invest in the cause as a way to help those in need rather than relying on the state.

Naam Foundation was registered in Pune in September 2015. It offered people an avenue to donate towards the cause. It also helped Patekar and Anaspure scale their efforts to reach out to more families. The foundation managed to raise nearly ₹80 lakh when it was launched, and it is proof of how much people want to help those in need. Announcing the amount in September 2015, Patekar said that people wanted to help those who were in distress, but often wanted to see it reach the people who needed it. He said that he felt people had placed their faith in the foundation. It enabled Naam Foundation to reach beyond the personal efforts of individuals and focus on a larger-scale plan. The foundation reportedly raised around ₹60 crore in its first two months, according to later reports in The Indian Express.

It also saw support from many public figures. Actor Akshay Kumar, for instance, raised ₹90 lakh for the cause in 2015. Patekar and Anaspure knew that helping people immediately after a farmer’s suicide could only do so much. Their efforts began to scale, reaching out to many more families in Maharashtra.

Naam Foundation’s efforts went beyond helping the families of farmers who had committed suicide. Its focus turned to supporting farmers in drought-affected areas in water conservation. The foundation’s efforts have reportedly included restoring canals and abandoned works in drought-affected villages and managing groundwater and stored water.

He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2013 for his contribution to art. His work in diverse genres made him a household name for those who frequented serious cinema as well as light-hearted movies. However, he faced his share of controversies as well. In 2018, actor Tanushree Dutta accused Patekar of sexual harassment on the sets of Horn Ok Pleassss in 2008. Patekar denied the allegations.

In 2019, Mumbai Police filed a closure report in the case. In March 2025, a Mumbai magistrate’s court dismissed Tanushree Dutta’s petition against the closure report since the limitation period for the 2008 allegations had expired, and for the 2018 allegations there was no evidence. The allegations were not tested in a criminal trial, and thus the judicial outcome is not a trial verdict that decides the facts of the alleged incident.

What began as Nana Patekar’s personal initiative to help families that were shattered due to farmer suicides has turned into a movement which is working towards rural welfare, water conservation and sustainable livelihoods. The nearly ₹80 lakh Naam Foundation raised on the first day marked the beginning of the journey, showcasing how public trust could turn an individual’s effort into a collective effort. While Patekar was well-known for his work in cinema, his association with Naam Foundation added a different aspect to his public life, highlighting the struggles of farming communities. The foundation’s journey shows how a personal act of compassion backed by collective support can evolve into an effort to tackle challenges that stretch beyond one individual.

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