A Few Thousand Farmers Outshone Bollywood at Nana Patekar’s Rites
Pravin Tarde says a few thousand farmers joined Nana Patekar's final procession at Donje, and that Bollywood's absence did not shrink the actor's stature.
Nana Patekar’s last rites have turned into a sharp conversation about who shows up, and what that says about a legend. Marathi filmmaker Pravin Tarde, speaking on ABP Majha’s Coffee with Kaushik, said the people who called the late actor a friend should have been present at his funeral. But he was equally blunt that Bollywood’s absence did not reduce Patekar’s stature.
“Bollywood is not bigger than Nana.”
Patekar died in Goa on October 8 after a severe heart attack. His remains were taken to Donje, near Pune, where the last rites were performed on his own farm. Tarde said a few thousand farmers joined the funeral procession, and he argued that their presence carried more meaning than a Bollywood turnout ever could.
Who did attend
Several film and music personalities were present, but the list remained short compared with the industry names that usually gather for a farewell in Mumbai.
- Jackie Shroff
- Anees Bazmee
- Makarand Anaspure
- Prasad Oak
- Rahul Deshpande
- Suresh Wadkar
The farmer comparison
Tarde’s most quoted observation was a contrast between two Indias. The farmers who walked in the procession “smelled of sweat and soil,” he said, while Bollywood figures arrive in perfume. A farmer from Dhule, in his view, is greater than Bollywood heroes. That line lands because Patekar himself repeatedly identified as a farmer, not as a product of the film industry.
Why it matters for fans
Patekar was known as much for his association with rural Maharashtra and farming communities as for his performances. That public identity is exactly why Tarde’s comparison has spread beyond Marathi entertainment circles. It asks a question our audience often debates: should a star’s send-off be judged by celebrity attendance, or by the people whose lives the star actually touched?
In Patekar’s case, the answer on the ground was visible. A few thousand farmers turned up, while parts of Bollywood stayed away. Tarde’s frustration and pride are both part of the same point: Nana Patekar never needed the film industry’s validation.
The complaint remains
Tarde did not hide his disappointment. He said that if asked whether he has a complaint, the answer is yes: those whom Nana called friends should have shown up. He contrasted the response with Mumbai funerals, where people line up in white when a smaller actor dies, but the same crowd did not gather for Patekar.
For fans, the debate matters because it reframes Patekar’s legacy away from red carpets and towards rural Maharashtra, the farms he spoke about, and the ordinary people who turned up without an invitation.
Source: The Times of India
The room talks
0 comments