When Nana Patekar spoke candidly on his and Anil Kapoor's friendship: ‘Aaj bhi itna mehnat se kaam karta hai’

Veteran stars Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor have been known for their long-running feud since their time on the film ‘Parinda’. However, over the years, their bond seems to have mended slowly but surely. In one of his older interviews, when Patekar was counting down his close friends in the Bollywood industry, he even listed Anil Kapoor as someone he is quite close to.

Nana Patekar on being friends with Anil Kapoor

During his conversation with The Lallantop back in 2024, the actor opened up about some of his closest friends in the industry, which also included Anil Kapoor’s name. He cited that they are ‘now’ friends, which the host further asked for elaboration on. To this, he replied by adding that “Woh (Anil Kapoor) bakayda phone karte hain na” (He (Anil Kapoor) calls me regularly. )



He also added, “Nice chap, aaj bhi itna mehnat se kaam karta hai tana acha kaam karta hai animal mein kitna behtarin kaam kiya dekha maine bola ‘maine teri anil mal dekhi’ ‘nana nana kaise laga yaar kaise laga’ maine kaha bahut acha kya bahut restrained, bahut acha kaam kiya” (Nice chap, even today he works so hard, he does a good job, I saw how well he did the work in the animal, I said, 'I saw your animal stuff', 'Nana Nana, how did you like it, how did you like it', I said, very good, what a great restraint, you did a very good job. )

What was Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor’s rift?

The so-called ‘rift’ between Kapoor and Patekar started back in 1989, when the ‘Tiranga’ star had alleged that Kapoor had requested ‘Parinda’ director Vidhu Vinod Chopra to drop him from the movie. In the same interview, he detailed the rift that had happened between the two stars.

He shared that “I was initially going to do Jackie's role. Naseer (Naseeruddin Shah) was supposed to play Anna. Then Naseer backed out. Anil and I did a lot of rehearsals. I prepared for six months. I recently asked Anil, ‘You asked Vinod to drop me from the film?’ He said, ‘I thought Nana ko kyu star banau main (why should I make Nana the star)? It was obvious that you’d become a star had you played Jackie's part.' I told him, ‘Didn’t I tell you that whatever role you give me, I'd become the star anyway. Nobody would look at you,'”

Nana Patekar eventually played Anna’s role, which was supposed to be done by Naseeruddin Shah before he dropped out of the project. He further shared that after he was dropped from the film a few months later, Vinod himself approached him to play Anna's role. He shared that “I first felt angry, then I agreed. He then said he'd pay me whatever my market rate is. I said obviously that you will, you're not doing me a favour. I just said I'll rewrite my part.”

Even though the two actors have had their differences over the years, they have now managed to mend their relationship and are on good terms as friends.