Nana Patekar loved shooting rifles. He won medals, made friends and helped many

Nana Patekar was the star on the sets of the film. He was just another shooter at the range and still a student.

That was the remarkable thing about his relationship with rifle shooting. Outside cinema, Patekar became a serious competitor, training with the rifle and participating in state and national competitions. He won a silver medal in the 300m Big Bore National Shooting Championships in 2004 and a team bronze with Maharashtra in 2007. He even earned the distinction of ‘Reputable Shot’, a formal recognition for shooters who meet the prescribed performance standards of the national federation. He continued to compete into his 60s.

Nana Patekar died on Thursday at the age of 75at his home in Goa. But beyond the movies and fame, there was a side of him that was less known to the public: his serious love of shooting rifles.

Olympian Sanjeev Rajput, who coached him in Rifle Prone and 3P around 2009-11, says on the range, Nana was no star. He was a student.

“He was enthusiastic about shooting,” Sanjeev tells IndiaToday.in, recalling the days when the actor wanted his help shooting Rifle Prone.

“He would come in late in the evening when almost everyone was coming back from the range. The range used to be empty. He would come at 7pm and call me from there. He would practice for one, one and a half hours and then come back.”

There was no starry air around Nana when they met. Sanjeev was training at a shooting range in Pune when Nana learned that he was an Olympic shooter and holder of the Arjuna. They were introduced through a mutual friend in the shooting fraternity.

“I found him so modest. He said:”I want to learn too”, says Sanjeev.

Nana already owned a 300m rifle but wasn’t getting the results he wanted. So he looked for someone to help him improve. Sanjeev, who ended up spending three or four months training him in Pune from 2009-11, recalls a student who was remarkably serious about the process.

“When I told him to hold the rifle for half an hour, he resisted the pain in his elbow and did it,” he says. “He was very honest as a student.

Nana was already a famous actor, a National Award winner and one of the most recognizable faces of Indian cinema. But at the range he was willing to listen and learn. Getty Images

NANY GIFT, WORLD #1 IS BEGINNING

Olympic rifle shooter Anjali Bhagwat, who first met Nana in the 1990s, remembers exactly the same side of him.

At the 1995 National Games, Anjali won several gold medals. Nana attended the victory ceremony and made an observation during the medal presentation that became the beginning of their friendship.

“He asked me, ‘Do you have a truck from home to take away all the gold medals?'” recalls Anjali while speaking to IndiaToday.in.

Their introduction soon became something much more meaningful. Anjali and her friends, who were part of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) in Mumbai, had very little equipment. They wore local jackets and trousers and shared weapons.

Their then president of the association, BP Bam, explained their situation to Nana.

“He asked him, ‘I saw some NCC girls along with Anjali training. Do you have any requests or problems?'” says Anjali.

Nana didn’t wait for a formal request.

“Nana sponsored us on the spot that day. He was my very first sponsor.”

He paid for Anjali’s shooting gear, including a jacket and pants, which she could import from Korea, and bought her first air rifle.

“Having my own rifle was when my real professional journey began. That was a huge turning point in my shooting career. No matter how much I thank him, it’s not enough,” says Anjali.

Anjali would go on to become world number one, winning the ISSF World Cup final and establishing herself as one of India’s top shooters. But she remembers that first rifle as the beginning of everything.

Meanwhile, Nana kept returning to the range.

“Even though he was a big star back then, he was so normal on the range,” she says. “He mingled with us, trained alongside us and sometimes asked how to do certain techniques.

Nana eventually competed on his own at the national level and won an award. But it was never about the medals.

Sanjeev saw that attitude up close.

“He supported a lot of shooters when we were there,” she says.

Many came from Maharashtra and were trying to get arms, shooting gear or ammunition. Sanjeev himself was already performing at Olympic level and was supported by Olympic Gold Quest, so he did not need financial help. Even then, Nana made an offer.

“He told me if I needed help I could ask him.

Sanjeev says there was no expectation attached to this generosity.

“He only did it out of love. There was no point in taking his medal. (He shot for the love of it. He didn’t care about the medal),” he says. “Unke bas yeh tha ki’woh goli marenge toh, goli lagni chahiye (if he is going to shoot, the bullet should hit the target)‘.”

He wanted the shooters to shoot well. That was enough.

OVER BIRYANI AND DRINKS

Sanjeev Rajput with Nana Patekar (Courtesy: Sanjeev Rajput)

A lot happened even out of reach. Sanjeev and Nana’s relationship grew during those months in Pune. Nana took him home to Khadakwasla, showed him around and spent time with him outside of shooting. And then there was the food.

“He loved cooking,” says Sanjeev. He still remembers Nana cooking mutton biryani for them.

The actor even had a theory about what constituted a proper biryani.

“If you ate biryani and you didn’t sweat on your forehead, did you really eat biryani?”

There were evenings over drinks when the conversation turned from rifles to movies. Nana told Sanjeev stories from his career, including one about jumping off a cliff during a shoot without a stuntman. After he landed safely, a guard apparently came and slapped him and started crying.

“”You are one. If you were angry, what would we do? (There’s only one of you. If something happens to you, what will we do?)’” the guard told him.

Sanjeev also remembers another side of the actor’s personality. Nana was almost 60 when they trained together, but he was proud of the work he put into his body.

“He was very passionate about the weights he used to lift in the gym,” says Sanjeev. “”Look how many dolls I made (Look at my muscles. Look how big they’ve gotten.'”

It’s a glimpse of the man away from the cameras: a celebrated actor who could be intense and intimidating on screen but also liked to show his trainer how much he lifted in the gym.

Anjali remembers a similar acquaintance. Nana would always visit the range and check on the shooters if they needed anything or how they were doing.

“He was deeply concerned about all the shooters in Maharashtra and helped many of them,” she says.

A few years later, when Anjali won the World Cup final for the first time, becoming the first Indian woman to win the title, Nana called her personally.

“He told me how happy he was and encouraged me to keep going.

This was Nana Patekar whom Rajput and Bhagwat knew. The actor was there, of course. But at the range, he was also a student, a friend, and someone who constantly asked how he could help.

And sometimes, Rajput recalls, it was simply a man cooking mutton biryani and asking if you’ve sweated enough to prove it’s good.

– The end