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Nana Patekar and Adil Hussain shared screen space in Ananth Mahadevan’s yet-to-be released film, The Confession Of Mary.
Adil Hussain remembers late actor Nana Patekar.
There was more to Nana Patekar than his acting chops onscreen and onstage. His peers would concur that he had a deep passion for cooking and feeding co-stars and friends on sets and at home. He had famously stated that he could cook meals for film crews of up to 200 people at a time, often involving the cast and crew in chopping and peeling. He had once humorously claimed he considered himself a better cook than an actor.
As the veteran actor breathed his last this morning, Adil Hussain exclusively speaks to News18, remembering him and speaking about how he cooked him delicious non-vegetarian dishes. For the unversed, the duo had shared screen space in Ananth Mahadevan’s yet-to-be released film, The Confession Of Mary. Nana plays a Roman Catholic priest in the film, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
“I woke up to the news of his passing. It’s shocking and devastating. I grew up watching him. He’s one of the most admired and favourite actors of India along with Om (Puri) ji and Naseer (Naseeruddin Shah) bhai,” Adil tells us. While he had a great time shooting with Nana, what he’ll always cherish is how he fed him his favourite fish dishes.
“My memory of Nana sir is that he took very good care of me. He would ask me everyday, ‘Adil, kya khaayega?’ He would organise lunch for me and put it up next to his van. He came to know that I love fish. He would order different kinds of fish in Goa as we were shooting there. He would then invite me home where he cooked dosa and crabs,” Adil recalls.
“He wouldn’t sit with me to have lunch because he wanted to feed me garam dosa, fresh off the pan. I would finish one and he would immediately get me another. This was in his Goa house where he passed away this morning. We were supposed to meet soon for the release of our film. It’s very, very sad,” he further adds.
Working on The Confessions Of Mary also helped him see Nana in a different light, one that was far removed from the misconception he had of him. “The image that I had of him initially was that he’s a very strict person because that’s what I had heard. But suddenly, out of the blue, I saw this gentle human being with the warmest heart looking after another actor with all his affection. These are the only things I could remember when I heard that he’s not there anymore. I was like, oh my god!” he says.
On a related note, Nana suffered severe chest pain at his home in Goa, following which a medical team was dispatched to his flat. He was found unconscious on arrival and was administered cardiac massage at the spot before being rushed to a private hospital in Dona Paula. The medical team at the hospital declared him dead at 5:20 am.
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Ask News18Adil Hussain recalled that Nana Patekar had a warm heart and took great care of him during their film shoot in Goa, famously cooking him fresh dosas and delicious non-vegetarian fish and crab dishes.
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Titas Chowdhury is a Special Correspondent at News18 Showsha. She writes about cinema, music and gender in cinema. Interviewing actors and filmmakers, writing about latest trends in showbiz and bringi…Read More
October 08, 2026, 13:47 IST