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Making an indelible mark in the dazzling world of Indian cinema and Bollywood and reaching the pinnacle of success is no mean feat. Whenever there is talk of struggle and artists who rose from the grassroots level to become stars, the names of experienced actors like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Pankaj Tripathi and Manoj Bajpayee often come to our mind. These stars have told the story of their hardships and difficult initial days on many platforms. But there is one such legendary superstar in Hindi cinema, whose hair-raising life journey and tough childhood struggle has been more painful and difficult than all these contemporary actors. This outspoken star had publicly made this shocking statement in front of the camera in an interview that “If I was not an actor today, I would definitely have been a part of the underworld.” We are talking about the great actor Nana Patekar, who ruled the hearts of the audience with his strong voice and amazing acting.
Job at the age of just 13 and salary of ₹ 35: The bitter reality of Nana Patekar’s childhood
Nana Patekar’s aggressiveness on screen and his unique desi accent may have been questioned from time to time by some critics of the film industry, but his acting ability is acknowledged by the whole world. Nana Patekar’s life before he established himself in the world of acting was so tragic and challenging that it is difficult to even imagine it today.
Recalling the dark days of his life, Nana Patekar once told that due to domestic poverty, he had to go in search of work at the young age of just 13 and he started working. In Nana’s words, “The burden of financial and family responsibilities took our life very quickly from 13 to 30. During that period, we had only one meal a day and a salary of only Rs 35 for a month’s hard work. After that, we had to go to school. Even when we were studying in the ninth standard, we were doing hard jobs along with studies.” Nana Patekar believes that your circumstances and your compulsions in life decide your mental age.
In the name of wealth, only parents were in the house: Nana’s thoughts about money
In this emotional interview, Nana Patekar, while referring to his family background, had said that when he came to his senses, he had complete love and blessings of his parents, but he had nothing in the name of material comforts. Despite facing financial crunch, does Nana Patekar believe that without money everything in life is meaningless? Nana answers this in a completely different and philosophical manner.
According to Nana Patekar, real and true happiness of life never comes from safes of money. Taking a jibe at the importance of money, he had said, “Will you end up with more money than you need? Human eyes do not have teeth to chew notes and money. At that stage of life, when money is not useful for your basic problems or to satisfy the hunger of a hungry person, then it is just like a lifeless piece of paper. Money is meaningful only when it can be useful to someone helpless and needy.”
‘If you want to eat fresh bread, earn fresh money too’: Nana is against collecting stale money
Talking candidly on the indiscriminate money and luxurious lifestyle received in the film industry, Nana Patekar said that today the huge amount of money and fame that artists get in the cinema world, in reality a common man does not need that much to live with dignity. Nana Patekar gave a very beautiful message and said, “When you need fresh bread and green vegetables to eat every day, then earn money by working hard every day. Why are you keeping it in banks and blocking it more than necessary?”
While sharing a very touching memoir, he told that once he was asked in a show that out of all the expensive perfumes and perfumes in the world, which one do you find to have the best fragrance? So without wasting a moment Nana replied – “The smell of fresh bread roasting on the pan.” This is because he has also seen such a terrible period in his life when he did not even have dry bread to eat twice a day.
Taking a dig at the artificiality of urban life and the closed rooms of multi-storey buildings, Nana Patekar said that the vast sky of humans living in today’s modern metropolis has now become as limited as the small window of their homes. By imprisoning ourselves within four walls, we have made our happiness, our relationships and our entire existence very small and narrow. This story of Nana teaches us that if a person’s courage is strong, he can leave the dark paths of the underworld and make the whole world his admirer through art.