National award winning actor Nana Patekar is undeniably one of the most talented performers in the Hindi film industry. But, there is another side of him that has conveniently remained hidden from the media's narrative in the last three decades.
He has always had a hot-temper but for some reason it was never spoken about openly. In the aftermath of the accusations of sexual harassment levelled against him by former actress Tanushree Dutta during the filming of 'Horn Ok Pleassss' in 2008, several old interviews and videos have been dugged out.
An actual footage of the mob-attack that happened on Tanushree eight years ago has resurfaced and is now going viral. An old video of Dimple Kapadia has also become a talking point on the internet.
Now, we have got our hands on one of Nana's own interviews, where he admitted having anger-management issues. In an episode of Aap Ki Adalat, aired in 2013, host Rajat Sharma mentioned that people in Bollywood believe that he is short-tempered and that he unnecessarily picks fights with everyone. Nana agreed and said, "Yes, it's true. But, on screen, I get paid for it (smiles). I do it only for the role. But, yes I do get angry."
When Rajat further asked if it's true that he lost out on 'A Wednesday' and several other films because of his bad temper, Nana said, "It's true. Naseeruddin Shah informed me about it later. He wanted me to do Naseer's part. Naseer had recommended my name for it. But (Neeraj) Pandey said, 'I don't want to get beaten up'. I later called up Pandey and asked him not to do this. 'I am short-tempered but not mad'".
Recently, Renuka Shahane also penned an open letter addressing the controversy and wrote about Patekar's "volatile temper". “Nana Patekar is known as much for his volatile temper as he is for his phenomenal talent or his social service towards farmers. Many men & women from the film industry have faced his wrath…,” she wrote.
When the lead actress of Horn Ok Pleasss, Rimi Sen, was asked to comment on the entire incident, she told TOI, "My experience of working with Nana Patekar was all good, except that I felt he was slightly lonely in life, which is why he sometimes got a bit frustrated. He was short-tempered but not a sexual offender. Yes, I noticed that he loved the company of women, maybe because he was lonely. But if you are asking me if I faced any physical or indecent advances from him, let me clarify that he always treated me well. In fact, he treated me like his daughter."
According to a 2010 report in India Today, Nana Patekar also allegedly had a tiff with filmmaker Prakash Jha during the shoot of 'Rajneeti'."...Nana fought with Jha and walked out of the shooting of the film after a recording of a song went wrong leading to Nana losing his temper and blasting the hell out of the Bihari filmmaker. But Nana and Jha sorted out their differences and the former finished shooting," the report stated.
The report further said that Nana faced difficulty in casting actors in his directorial as no one was apparently ready to work with a man who has no control over his temper.
