“Aa gaye meri maut ka tamasha dekhne!” Unless you aren’t living under a rock, this hard-hitting dialogue delivered by Nana Patekar is from the 1994 film, Krantiveer. Fans still remember Patekar’s final speech as Pratap Narayan Tilak before his character goes through a public hanging in the movie.
Dilip Kumar, fondly known as the Tragedy King of Indian cinema, was quite impressed with Krantiveer.
Dilip Kumar reviewed Nana Patekar’s Krantiveer, recalls Mehul Kumar
In a recent interview with Bollywood Thikana, Krantiveer director Mehul Kumar reminisced that many prominent personalities in the film industry had praised the film as it turned out to be a success.
Mehul said that Dilip Kumar watched the 1994 film in the theatre and asked him to sit with the veteran actor.
Quoting the late veteran actor’s reaction, the Krantiveer director said, “You have made such a film that I still have a hangover.” According to the filmmaker, the Tragedy King compared Krantiveer to Mother India saying that he watched the 1957 film in the same theatre.
He recalled that the Mughal-E-Azam actor told the lead actress Nargis that the label of Mother India would always be etched with her. Similarly, Nana Patekar will have Krantiveer’s label forever.
Nana Patekar wore his clothes in Krantiveer
Director Mehul Kumar also revealed that Nana Patekar didn’t have a fancy wardrobe in Krantiveer and wore his clothes while making his character look authentic. Mehul explained that he penned the script while keeping Patekar in mind and informed the actor about not having his outfits styled for him.
The Krantiveer director added that he asked Patekar to wear his old garments and kept them unironed for his scenes. The actor agreed to it and later received new clothes as a gift.
Mehul stressed that Patekar’s look consisted of his clothes and slippers.
When distributors refused to back Krantiveer for this reason, recalls director
In the same interview, Mehul Kumar further spoke about how distributors were unsure about backing Krantiveer and some of them didn’t want to invest in his film.
Kumar recalled the time when two distributors from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh refused to back Krantiveer as they questioned Patekar’s ability to bring the audience to theatres before its release. He added that the distributors were worried that the actor was shouldering the 1994 film with no major stars in it.
The director then convinced them that Patekar was an “apt actor” for the role. Following this, the distributors agreed to invest the signing amount in Krantiveer, provided they liked the film otherwise the filmmaker would have to return the money.
According to Kumar, Nana Patekar had mostly played antagonist roles in movies before Krantiveer, and this was the first time when he was cast as a protagonist in the film.
Krantiveer, the action-crime film also featured Dimple Kapadia, Mamta Kulkarni, and Atul Agnihotri in the lead roles. It also featured Paresh Rawal, Danny Denzongpa, Tinu Anand, and Farida Jalal.
Patekar played the role of a freedom fighter’s grandson, who lives in a chawl in Mumbai. Dimple essayed the role of a press reporter in the film. Paresh was cast as the chawl owner. Atul played the role of Paresh’s on-screen son and Mamta was cast as his love interest.
The 1994 film was remade in Telugu and Kannada languages as Punya Bhoomi Naa Desam and Parodi respectively.
