At a Mumbai event days after the actor's death, Munawar Faruqui laid flowers at Nana Patekar's portrait once and flatly turned down a request for a second, camera-friendly take, a moment now circulating as a viral video.
Munawar Faruqui wasn't playing along, and he said so on camera.
At an event in Mumbai on Thursday, the comedian walked up to a portrait of Nana Patekar, placed flowers and paid his respects. One pass, done. When photographers asked him to do it again so they could get a cleaner shot, Munawar didn't budge. "Aapke shot ke liye wapas nahi karunga," he told them, a line that's now doing the rounds as a viral video clip across social platforms.
It's a small moment, but it's landed hard online precisely because of the timing. Nana Patekar died on October 8 after what Dr Shekhar Salkar, chief of oncology at Manipal Hospital, described as severe chest pain. The actor was rushed to hospital, where medics worked on him for roughly forty-five minutes before he was declared dead. He was cremated with full state honours at his farmhouse in Donje, near Pune, a place he had reportedly stocked with twelve maunds of dry wood for his own last rites, something he'd spoken about openly during promotions for The Vaccine War.
Munawar, asked about the loss, didn't try to dress it up. "I feel very bad. Rest in peace," he said, calling Nana Patekar an inspiration and someone whose acting he'd always looked up to. When pressed on a favourite film, he picked the Marathi drama Natsamrat without hesitation, over a filmography that ran from Ankush, Parinda and Angaar to Tirangaa, Krantiveer, Ab Tak Chhappan, Apaharan, Taxi No. 9211 and Welcome.
The refusal to restage grief for a better angle is what's cutting through. Paparazzi culture around Mumbai events runs on repeats, the second take, the better light, the cleaner frame. Munawar's line drew a boundary around that in real time, and the clip's spread suggests a lot of people online agreed with where he drew it.
The funeral itself pulled a wide cross-section of the industry and the state. Jackie Shroff, Pravin Tarde, Sajid Nadiadwala, Anil Sharma, director Mehul Kumar and writer Kiran were among those who attended. On the political side, Maharashtra deputy chief ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar showed up, along with Union minister Ramdas Athawale, minister Chandrakant Patil, Roopali Chakankar and Bhai Jagtap.
What happens next is the slower, harder part. Patekar's upcoming work, including whatever release commitments were already locked in, will need to be sorted out by producers and distributors in the coming weeks. For now, the industry's public mourning is still in its first days, and moments like Munawar's refusal are shaping how that grief gets performed, or doesn't, in front of a camera.
Be the first to comment
Join the argument. No password, just your email or a passkey.