Nana Patekar , one of Hindi cinema’s most recognisable actors, died at 75. The veteran actor passed away at his home in Goa on October 8 after suffering a cardiac arrest. The actor was found unconscious in the early hours of Thursday and was taken to a private hospital, where doctors tried to revive him for around 45 minutes. He was declared dead at around 5:20 am.
His death brings to a close a career spanning over four decades, during which he worked across Marathi theatre, parallel cinema and some of Bollywood’s biggest commercial films.
Three completed films featuring the actor are still awaiting release and will be released posthumously. Even after his death, however, his work on screen is not over. And is awaiting the release. The third film is most likely will be last project on big screen which is Maddock Films’ upcoming film, Shakti Shalini. This is a horror-comedy from the production house’s horror-comedy universe which has had films like Stree, Bhediya, and Munjhya. Aditya Sarpotdar has directed the film. Aneet Padda , Vishal Jethwa and Vineet Kumar Singh are also part of the cast.
The project was selected to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival 2025.
The story takes inspiration from the 1966 Mariyakutty murder case in Kerala. Now, the upcoming musical drama is scheduled to release on December 4, 2026. The film was expected to release on December 24, 2026. However, there have been reports that the film will be shifted to 2027.
The Confession of Mary is perhaps the most notable of his remaining films. The film has been directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan , with Patekar playing Father Benedict, a priest accused of murdering a woman. Adil Hussain, Ashish Vidyarthi, Gautam Rode and Joy Sengupta also feature in the film. There was one line that he had to dub. The next film is Laxman Utekar’s Eetha is a biographical film based on the life of Vithabai Narayangaonkar, the celebrated Maharashtrian Lavani and Tamasha artist. Shraddha Kapoor, Randeep Hooda and Anant Joshi headline the film, with Nana Patekar also playing a part. The teaser was unveiled a few months ago and the film’s release was postponed.
Subhash Kale, co-producer of Nana-starrer, said that the actor was supposed to come to Mumbai to complete the dubbing of the film. He told me, ‘I am coming to Bombay. Speaking to ANI, he said, “We had spoken just the day before yesterday about the dubbing. He was supposed to come to Bombay tomorrow, and he also had a shoot scheduled in Bombay for a film. So he told me, ‘I’ll come tomorrow, and we’ll do that one line’.
