Nana Patekar helped 77 lakh farmers throughout his life

Nana Patekar, who died in Goa on Thursday at 75, was known for some of Indian cinema’s most iconic performances. Away from the screen, however, his work with farmers and rural communities became an equally significant part of his legacy.

Through the Naam Foundation, which Patekar spearheaded with fellow actor Makarand Anaspure in 2015, thousands of farmers and rural families received assistance. Current reports put the foundation’s reach at more than 77 lakh farmers, 51,000 disaster-affected families and nearly 5,000 widows. The organisation’s work has also focused on drought relief, water conservation and the revival of rural infrastructure.

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The turning point came amid a severe agricultural crisis in Maharashtra in 2015. That year, the state recorded 3,228 farmer suicides, including 1,130 in the drought-hit Marathwada region, according to figures cited in Indian Express reporting.

At the time, Patekar had been saving money to buy a luxury car. One evening, a television report about a farmer who had died by suicide and his family made him reconsider how he wanted to use the money.

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“I had saved up Rs 1.5 crore with the intention of buying a new car. In the evening, I was sipping my drink and watching television. They were playing an interview with the family members of a farmer who had died by suicide. More than the mourning for the dead, I could feel their starvation. It was visible in their eyes,” the actor told The Lallantop.

The report prompted him to consider using the money to help families affected by farmer suicides.

“That scared me and made me think: ‘Why do I need this car?’ I decided to donate Rs 15,000 each to 1,000 farmers. However, my friend advised me to first meet the women who had lost their husbands before distributing the cheques, and that changed my life,” he recalled.

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Nana Patekar. Photo: Collected

That encounter also shifted his understanding of what such assistance could achieve. Rather than treating the crisis as a matter of one-time financial relief, Patekar and Anaspure went on to establish the Naam Foundation, which has since worked on longer-term interventions in drought-affected areas. The foundation says its work includes helping farmers, improving water management, reviving canals and abandoned water projects, and supporting the development of deprived villages.

Patekar’s decision to redirect money intended for a car thus became the beginning of a much larger commitment. Over the following decade, his public identity extended beyond his work in Hindi and Marathi cinema to include sustained advocacy and support for farming communities.