'I might have died of heart attack': When Nana Patekar revealed his fear in Nagpur earlier this year

Veteran actor Nana Patekar died at his residence in Goa following a cardiac arrest on Thursday morning. According to reports, Patekar was found unconscious at his apartment in Dona Paula, near Panaji, and was rushed to a private hospital. However, doctors were unable to revive him despite 45 minutes of continuous CPR. He was 76.

According to a friend who rushed Patekar to the hospital, the actor messaged him around 3:30 am, informing that he was not feeling well. When he saw the message around 4:00 am, he rushed to Patekar's apartment, where the actor was living with a caretaker.

An ambulance was sent to his house and treatment started immediately. The doctors tried to revive him after he was brought to the hospital, but he was declared dead at 5:10 am.

The body has been sent to Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim, where a post-mortem examination will be conducted to ascertain the exact cause of death.

Nana Patekar spoke about his fear

The veteran actor had expressed his fear about a heart attack at a programme held in Nagpur on May 18, Marathi media reports said.

According to available information, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari was in attendance at the Jal Kranti Parishad event held at the Suresh Bhat Auditorium in Reshimbagh on May 18 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Purti Sinchan Samruddhi Kalyankari Sanstha—a water conservation and welfare organisation.

Also attending the event were actor-director Makarand Anaspure, Water Conservation Minister Sanjay Rathod, and the Mayor of Nagpur, Neeta Thakre, along with other dignitaries, MLAs, and water experts.

Speaking at the event, Nana Patekar revealed fear to be the reason why he had not performed in the play Natsamrat. An actor has to give his all to deliver the best possible performance, and all the actors who had played the lead role in the play Natsamrat so far had died of heart attacks, Loksatta reported him as saying.

Nana Patekar said that if he had performed in the play and given his all, he might have lasted 25 performances before suffering a heart attack and dying. Therefore, instead of performing in the play, he chose to play the role in the film Natsamrat, Loksatta reported the actor as saying.

For the unversed, Natsamrat is a landmark Marathi stage play written by V. V. Shirwadkar (Kusumagraj), which narrates the story of Ganpatrao Ramchandra Belwalkar, an ageing, retired theatre actor who is celebrated as the “Natsamrat”. Nana Patekar played the character Ganpatrao “Appa” Belwalkar in the 2016 Marathi film Natsamrat, directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. The film is an adaptation of Kusumagraj's play.