Veteran Indian actor Nana Patekar, who died in Goa on Thursday at the age of 75, had a lesser-known connection with the Indian armed forces. During the 1999 Kargil War, he stepped away from his film career and spent about two months alongside Indian troops in the conflict zone.
Patekar died early Thursday after suffering a cardiac arrest at his residence in Goa. He was taken to Manipal Hospital, where doctors attempted to revive him for about 45 minutes before declaring him dead at around 5:20 a.m.
Long before the Kargil conflict, Patekar had developed a close association with the military. While preparing for his 1991 film Prahaar, in which he portrayed a commando, he underwent intensive training with the Maratha Light Infantry. The experience gave him practical exposure to military discipline, weapons and field training.
When war broke out between India and Pakistan in 1999, Patekar sought permission to join soldiers near the frontline. He approached then Defence Minister George Fernandes and asked to accompany troops in the conflict zone.
Fernandes eventually approved the request. Patekar then put his acting career on hold and travelled to areas including Srinagar, Dras and Leh. He later recalled that he became part of a Quick Reaction Team, or QRT, during his time with the forces.
The actor later said he spent around 60 days with soldiers. Contemporary reporting from 1999 also described him living alongside troops for more than two weeks and moving between military positions.
Patekar rarely discussed the operational details of what he did during the conflict. In a later interview, when asked about his exact responsibilities, he declined to disclose them.
What he did reveal was the physical toll of the experience. According to Patekar, he weighed about 76 kilograms when he left and returned weighing only 56 kilograms after roughly two months with the troops.
For Patekar, the experience was not simply an extension of the military roles he had played on screen. His involvement during the Kargil conflict became one of the more unusual chapters of his life outside cinema.
His connection with the armed forces also remained part of his public image. The military training he received for Prahaar helped shape one of his best-known performances, while his later experience with soldiers during the Kargil conflict gave him a personal connection to the realities faced by troops in difficult terrain.
Patekar went on to build a career spanning Hindi and Marathi cinema, earning three National Film Awards and the Padma Shri. But beyond his work as an actor, his time with Indian soldiers during the Kargil War remains a distinctive part of his legacy.
