Nana Patekar Dies at 75: Salaam Bombay! Star Shaped and Shadowed Indian Cinema

Nana Patekar, the Indian actor who broke through in Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay! (1988) and the Bollywood hits Parinda (1989) and Krantiveer (1994), has died of a heart attack aged 75, according to his obituary published by the Guardian.

His early credits established Patekar as a performer of rare versatility. He and Irrfan Khan remain the only performers to have won Filmfare's best actor, best supporting actor and best villain awards — prizes considered India's equivalent of the Oscars.

That is the record. The obituary is less forgiving about the man behind it.

What does the record leave out?

The Guardian states plainly that the question of whether Patekar was better suited to heroism or villainy "lingered unresolved." Allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation, first made by his former co-star Tanushree Dutta in 2008, kickstarted India's #MeToo movement when she raised them again in 2018. The obituary does not record the outcome of those allegations — only that they defined the final chapter of his public life.

Until 2018, Patekar's rougher edges had mostly been celebrated. As an actor, he worked in a baggy-eyed naturalism that spoke more to Bombay streetlife than to Bollywood fantasy. He wrote out his dialogue until he had internalised it; his growling line readings were idiosyncratic and much imitated.

Who wanted to work with him?

Satyajit Ray counted among Patekar's most illustrious admirers — but, as Patekar himself recounted, the director apparently could not find a suitable project for him. The collaboration never happened.

Instead, Patekar had Mira Nair to thank for launching him to international prominence. In Salaam Bombay! (1988) he played Baba Golub, the brutal pimp and drug dealer lording over an army of street children. It remains the role that introduced him to audiences outside India, and the anchor of his international reputation.

How should his career be weighed?

The facts allow two readings. On one side: three Filmfare acting categories won, a first for any actor alongside Irrfan Khan, and early roles across arthouse and mainstream Hindi cinema that few of his generation matched. On the other: harassment allegations serious enough to reignite a national movement a decade after they were first made.

The obituary presents both without reconciliation. Patekar's craft is documented — theRay admiration, the imitated line readings, the street-level realism. So are the allegations. What it does not offer is any verdict reconciling the two, and that silence is itself part of the record he leaves behind: a career whose artistic standing was settled early, and whose moral standing never was.