Interview | When Nana Patekar told Pankaj Tripathi to never degrade his talent: ‘You are very big actor’

Nana Patekar needs no introduction. The veteran actor has been part of the film industry for over 40 years now and has acted in several critically acclaimed films. After a gap of almost five years, Patekar made his comeback to the big screen with Vivek Agnihotri's film The Vaccine War.

In the film, Patekar plays the role of professor Dr. Balram Bhargava, former director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research, who, with his entire team of scientists, invented the made-in-India Covid vaccine, Covaxin.

In a media interaction in New Delhi, Nana talked about various topics and shared one piece of advice he gave to actor Pankaj Tripathi during his recent chat with WION's Pragati Awasthi.

Patekar worked with Pankaj in Rajinikanth's 2018 film Kaala. The film, directed by Pa Ranjith, stars Rajinikanth as Karikaalan ''Kaala", Nana Patekar plays the role of a villain, and Pankaj Tripathi plays the role of a police officer.

During their interaction, the actor reminisced about working with Tripathi and the advice he gave to the actor over the role, he chose to play in Kaala only because of Nana and Rajinikanth. 

Nana recalled, ''I still remember working with Pankaj Tripathi. We were doing a film named Kaala with Rajinikanth. I was playing the villain. In the film, Tripathi played a very small role. So, I called him and asked, 'Why are you doing this role?' He said you and Anna [Rajnikanth] were there in the film. So, I said yes.''

Elaborating further, Nana said, ''I asked him, 'Why were you degrading yourself?' And I should have the feeling that I must work with you. We are neither bigger than you nor small. We are working at the same level, so never do this. You are a very big actor.''

Pankaj is one of the most-loved actors in Indian cinema. He has been around in the industry for a very long period and played several supporting roles until the Gangs of Wasseypur happened, which changed the trajectory of his career.

During the interaction, Patekar discussed why he decided to play the role of Bhargava, his working experience with Vivek, and why he declined a role in Leonardo Di Caprio's film, Body of Lies.

WION: You are doing a film after almost five years. So why did you choose to play the role of Prof. Balram Bhargava?

Nana Patekar: I kept on searching for heroes in the police and in the army. But we didn't know anything about [the scientists behind the made-in-India Covid vaccine, Covaxin]. I came to know about their story after listening to their script, and I thought that this story should be made public. When it came to fees that we generally take, they said they don't have that sort of money to pay me. So, keeping aside everything, I said that even if you would give me Rs 1, or even if you would not pay me, I would also work and play this role, and this story should come in front of people. We've all been through the COVID-19 pandemic, and we should know who the people were who put their lives in danger for the rest of us. And I think that this movie is the story of our Indian women and how empowered they are. Read the full interview here.