Jaipur: Rajasthan has more than a cinematic association with Nana Patekar. For those who encountered him here, the state holds memories of an actor who often appeared far more comfortable with people than with the privileges of stardom.One of my most vivid memory of Patekar dates back to 2009, when I visited a five-star hotel in Kukas while working with a news agency. I reached the hotel well before the shooting of an untitled film directed by Anees Bazmee. Patekar was chatting and cracking jokes with fans gathered at the hotel when I approached him and asked for an interview.His response caught me off guard. “Carrom khelna aata hai?” The interview could wait.Patekar sat down for a game of carrom first. As we played, I asked him whether he was trying to get into comic roles, with Welcome already having been released by then. He, however, was far more interested in the game.“Focus on the game. See, I am covering the queen,” came the quick reply.Only after the game did he agree to sit down for the conversation. It was a small moment, but one that revealed something about Patekar’s personality — his instinct to break the formality surrounding a celebrity and interact with people on his own terms.His connection with Jaipur also had a personal dimension.Film distributor Raj Bansal recalls Patekar from the making of Shafi Inamdar’s Hum Dono. Bansal had invited Rishi Kapoor and Inamdar to his wedding anniversary when he learnt that Patekar would also be joining them during the shooting.“I was told that Nana would be joining them for the shooting. So I invited Nana as well, and he accepted the invitation. He came directly, greeted me and my wife and, as a gesture of affection, gave us some money. He also invited us to join him during the shooting the next day,” Bansal recalled.But Patekar’s Rajasthan memories stretch well beyond Jaipur.During the shooting of Shakti: The Power, Rajasthan became an extended outdoor studio, with the film extensively shot in Jaisalmer, Pushkar and Jaipur. Yet Patekar did not always retreat to the comfort of a hotel after pack-up.“He would sometimes stay back with villagers, spending time among local people rather than returning to the hotel,” recalled shooting coordinator Shakti Singh.That association with Rajasthan continued years later in Dholpur. In May this year, Patekar returned to the state for the shooting of the horror comedy film Shakti Shalini. Some junior artistes who were part of the shoot recalled another small but revealing episode.“We were shooting in a village. Avoiding the tea made by the shooting staff, Patekar insisted on having tea made by the villagers on a chulha,” recalled Anil Kushwah, a resident of Baesna village in Dholpur, where the shooting took place.
