'He was one of the fittest men I knew': Dubai producer Arjun Iyer struggles to come to terms with Nana Patekar's death

For Dubai-based producer Arjun Iyer, who worked with Nana Patekar during the filming of Welcome Back starting 2013, news of the actor's reported death has been particularly difficult to process.

“I may yet to come to terms with it ... I quit Bollywood film production years ago, but this is still such a big shock, I am shocked!” said Iyer, expressing his disbelief.

What shook him most was the reported cause of death: a cardiac arrest. Iyer remembers Patekar as someone who took his physical fitness seriously.

“He was one of the fittest men,” Iyer recalled. “He was fit in the truest sense. He didn't just work out and get fit for a film. He was fit in general. Lived in a farm, ate healthy, was incredibly agile.”

Iyer, who says he worked with Patekar during the Welcome Back production and remained close to him afterwards, remembers a man whose interests extended far beyond acting. This journalist was invited to the sets several times to speak to the cast and crew, including Patekar.

According to Iyer, the legendary actor was an avid student of cinema. He admired Jack Nicholson and had a particular affection for the films of legendary Indian filmmaker Guru Dutt.

"Cinema wasn't simply a profession for him. It was something he studied, discussed and loved ... He took his craft very seriously," said Iyer.

He also acknowledged that Patekar wasn't necessarily the easiest personality to deal with, particularly in a formal interview setting.

“He was not a forthcoming persona and I remember you not being his biggest fan after the interview, but I saw a different side of him,” Iyer recalled, adding that he had witnessed varied facets of the actor over the years.

That observation resonated with my own experience.

When I met Patekar at a Dubai hotel overlooking a race course during the Welcome Back shoot, I found him abrasive, mercurial and difficult to interview. He wasn't particularly interested in charming the journalist sitting across from him.

But Iyer, who had facilitated the chat, knew another side of him and said that there were many other factors that ruined his mood that day.

Their relationship had extended beyond professional encounters. Patekar had even stayed at Iyer's home, offering the Dubai-based filmmaker a more personal glimpse into a man who could seem guarded in public.

“I know him closely ... We had deep discussions about movies, acting, and film production,” Iyer said.

Although Iyer is no longer involved in the movie business and has since moved into education, his memories of Patekar remain vivid.

For him, the actor wasn't merely the intense screen performer or the famously difficult interviewee. He was a physically disciplined man, a passionate student of filmmaking and someone he had come to know personally.

And that is perhaps what makes the news so difficult for him to comprehend.

The man he remembers was not someone who pursued fitness for the cameras or transformed himself temporarily for a role. He was, in Iyer's estimation, genuinely fit throughout his life.

That makes the reported cardiac arrest all the more shocking to someone who knew him.

"His sudden death proves that you need to get health check-ups every year once you cross 40. It's such a sobering reminder," he said.

For those of us who encountered Patekar across an interview table, he could be a hard pill to swallow. But Iyer's memories are a reminder that there were other sides to the actor, ones that didn't necessarily reveal themselves during a tightly scheduled press interaction.