The Krantiveer and Parinda star was found unconscious at his Dona Paula home and declared dead at 5:20 am on Thursday, NDTV reported.
Nana Patekar, one of Indian cinema's most distinctive actors, has died. He was 75. He was found unconscious at his home in Dona Paula, Goa, and taken to hospital, where doctors declared him dead at 5:20 am on Thursday, 8 October 2026, NDTV reported.
How Nana Patekar died
According to NDTV, doctors tried for about 45 minutes to revive him after he reached the hospital, but he did not respond. Initial findings point to a cardiac arrest. The official cause of death has not yet been confirmed.
His family has not issued a statement, and no details of the last rites have been announced. India TV, which also reported his death on Thursday morning, said more details would follow.
The news came as a shock partly because he had looked so fit. Recently, photographer and producer Atul Kasbekar shared a video on Instagram of Patekar doing 15 tricep dips without a break, smiling at the end.
From the Marathi stage to Gaman
Born Vishwanath Patekar on 1 January 1951 in Maharashtra's Raigad district, he came to films from Marathi theatre. His screen debut was Muzaffar Ali's Gaman in 1978.
He never had a conventional leading-man image. What he had was a voice, a stare and a way of delivering a line, fast, flat and furious, that audiences recognised instantly and imitators never quite managed.
The 1990s: Parinda, Prahaar and Krantiveer
The breakthrough came with Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Parinda (1989), in which he played the gangster Anna Seth. The role won him the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.
In 1991 he directed Prahaar: The Final Attack and starred in it as an army officer. He followed it with Angaar (1992) and Tirangaa (1993).
Krantiveer (1994) made him a star. His Pratap Narayan Tilak, a drifter who turns on a corrupt system, won him the National Film Award for Best Actor, and the film's speeches are still quoted today. He won a third National Award, again for Best Supporting Actor, for Agni Sakshi (1996). The same year he played the deaf father in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Khamoshi: The Musical.
Awards
- National Film Awards: Best Supporting Actor for Parinda, Best Actor for Krantiveer and Best Supporting Actor for Agni Sakshi.
- Filmfare Awards: four, including Best Actor for Krantiveer.
- Padma Shri: awarded by the Government of India in 2013.
Later career: cops, comedy and Marathi cinema
In the 2000s he played the encounter specialist Sadhu Agashe in Ab Tak Chhappan (2004) and a scheming politician in Prakash Jha's Apaharan (2005) and Raajneeti (2010).
He also showed he could be funny. As the gangster Uday Shetty in Welcome (2007) he turned menace into comedy, and the role became one of his most loved.
In Marathi cinema, Natsamrat (2016), as an ageing stage actor abandoned by his children, was one of the biggest hits of his career. In Tamil he played the politician Hari Dada opposite Rajinikanth in Kaala (2018).
His recent work included Vivek Agnihotri's The Vaccine War (2023) and Anil Sharma's Vanvaas (2024). According to NDTV, he appeared in Housefull 5 alongside Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan and Riteish Deshmukh, played a police officer in Vishal Bhardwaj's O'Romeo with Shahid Kapoor and Triptii Dimri, and had a cameo in Subedaar, starring Anil Kapoor and Radhika Madan.
Beyond the screen: Naam Foundation
In 2015 he and Marathi actor Makarand Anaspure set up the Naam Foundation to support farmers in drought-hit parts of Maharashtra, including the families of farmers who had died by suicide. Both put their own money into it and appealed to the public to give, and the work became as much a part of his public life as his films.
This story is developing and will be updated as his family and the authorities share more details.
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