Nana Patekar had rejected the lead role in the Hollywood film, 'Body of Lies' as he didn't approve of the character offered to him.
Nana Patekar is one of the most versatile actors in Indian cinema. Apart from being an actor, screenwriter and filmmaker, Nana was also a former Territorial Army officer. The actor is leading all the headlines after it was reported that he once rejected the lead role in Ridley Scott’s superhit film, Body of Lies, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
In a recent conversation with Saurabh Dwivedi on Lallantop, ace director, Anurag Kashyap revealed why Nana rejected the role. Talking about the same, Anurag stated that Nana starred in an International film, The Pool in 2007, which went on to win an award at the Sundance Film Festival. Seeing his work, Hollywood director, Ridley Scott decided to offer the role of Mark Strong in Body of Lies, but the actor declined the offer.
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Anurag narrated the story in his interview and revealed how he went to Nana and talked about the offer. Revealing their conversation, Anurag said:
“Ridley Scott ka mail aaya. Unko Nana Patekar chahiye they Body of Lies ke liye. Mark Strong ke role ke liye. Toh Nana Patekar ke paas main waapas gaya. Maine kaha Ridley Scott ko Mark ke character ke liye aap chahiye. Unhonein kahaa kya hai, baat ki aur bole yeh terrorist ka role hai main nahin karoonga aur mana kar diya.”
Nana Patekar is one of the most influential actors in Indian cinema with three National Film Awards and four Filmfare Awards to his credit. He made his acting debut in Bollywood with the film, Gaman in the year 1978. With some stellar performances in movies like Salaam Bombay, Parinda, Angaar, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Tirangaa, Agni Sakshi, Khamoshi: The Musical, Ab Tak Chhappan and many more, Nana proved the mettle of his acting.
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Apart from Hindi cinema, Nana Patekar is also one of the most respected actors in the Marathi film industry. One of the interesting and lesser-known facts about Nana Patekar is that the actor did a three-year army training programme for his film, Prahaar and was also honoured with the rank of Captain. Post the film’s shoot, he went back and served in the Indian Army during the Kargil war.
On the work front, Nana was last seen in the film, Tadka.
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