Nana Patekar’s Kids Feared Him Until Welcome: Bazmee

Nana Patekar’s passing has the industry looking back at more than his filmography. Alongside the tributes, a 2017 Filmfare interview with director Anees Bazmee is being shared again, and it captures a side of the actor that audiences rarely saw.

Bazmee and Nana worked together on several films. The filmmaker said their tuning was easy from the very first meeting, when he went to narrate Welcome.

“Explain it in 3 hours”

Bazmee recalled that most actors ask for a quick narration because they are short on time. Nana did the opposite. He told Bazmee not to read in a hurry, and to take three hours to explain the script properly.

As Bazmee remembers it, Nana described himself this way: “main kachchi mitti ka ghada hun, tum jaise chahe mujhe dhal lena.” The image is of an actor as raw clay, someone a director could shape for the role.

A thank you after Welcome

The moment that stayed with Bazmee came after the 2007 comedy released. Nana thanked him. The reason was personal. Nana’s children used to be scared of him and kept their distance. After Welcome, they began coming to him.

Bazmee quoted Nana as saying the film changed his image in his children’s minds, and that they now sat in his lap. “That was a very nice compliment for me,” Bazmee said.

Why this memory matters

The story lands now because it separates the actor from the heavy roles. Nana could be intense in Parinda and Krantiveer and funny in Welcome, a range he carried across decades. But Bazmee’s memory suggests the comedy did something personal: it let Nana’s children see their father differently.

Here is the memory in short:

• The star: Nana Patekar, remembered for Parinda, Krantiveer, Agni Sakshi and Welcome.
• The working style: He asked Bazmee for a three-hour Welcome narration, not a rushed read.
• The post-release change: His children stopped avoiding him and began sitting in his lap.

A straight-talking, warm collaborator

Bazmee also remembered the actor behind the process. Nana was straightforward, had a clean heart and wanted good work. When he was happy, Bazmee said, he would hug like a kid. That directness, the filmmaker added, is why working with him was fun.

In a film career full of memorable characters, the Welcome memory is a smaller one. It is also a reminder of why co-stars and directors speak about Nana so warmly now.

Source: Filmfare

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