Why Nana Patekar walked away from Bollywood fame and chose rural life in Maharashtra's village. 'I am not from the industry'

Nana Patekar had spent decades working in Hindi and Marathi cinema, playing intense characters, earning national recognition and becoming a familiar face to millions of people. But away from film sets and the spotlight, the actor chose a very different life that was rooted in villages, farmers and rural Maharashtra. Patekar, who died at 75 after suffering a cardiac arrest at his Goa residence, had often spoken about why he felt more at home in rural communities than in the city.

Why Nana Patekar left cinema

Patekar spoke about his decision to return to village life during an appearance on Kaun Banega Crorepati, where Amitabh Bachchan asked him why he had left everything behind after achieving so much in cinema.

Patekar said he never considered himself part of the film industry in the way people assumed him to be. “I am not from the industry. I come here, work here and then go back,” he said.


He also explained that he was comfortable with a simple life and did not feel the need for the luxuries that are often associated with the entertainment world. “I am from the village and I will stay there. And I like it there,” he said.

Patekar described the difference between his surroundings in the city and his home in the hills. “Just like there are walls in the city, there are mountains in my house,” he said, adding that he enjoyed living among the mountains without things such as air conditioning.

A television report changed his plans

His connection with rural Maharashtra was also closely linked to the problems faced by farmers, particularly drought, debt and farmer suicides.

Speaking at the Jal Kranti Parishad in Nagpur in May 2026, Patekar recalled that he had once been planning to buy a car with his savings. A television report about farmers who had died by suicide made him reconsider how he wanted to use that money and he eventually started using his resources to help the affected families.

Patekar had later recalled visiting places such as Beed and seeing young widows and children left behind after farmers' deaths. Those experiences, he said, changed his understanding of life and convinced him that immediate help was needed for those people.

“Visits to places like Beed changed me,” Patekar said. “When you see several young widows of farmers with their children and shattered families, you realise immediate intervention is necessary.”

Why he started NAAM Foundation

In September 2015, Patekar and actor Makarand Anaspure had dounded the NAAM Foundation in response to the drought and the distress among farmers in Maharashtra.

Accroding to its website, the organisation tackled problems including water shortages, the deterioration of villages and farmer suicides. Its work included helping farmers, improving water management, reviving canals and abandoned water projects, and supporting rural development.

For Patekar, the work eventually became much more than just a social initiative. In 2025, he said the cause had given him “one reason to live” and that solving the problems of drought-hit farmers could not be left to a small group of people.

“The happiness Naam Foundation has given me is greater than all awards and money from cinema,” he said while speaking at an event in 2026.

Patekar's distance from urban life became even clearer when he spoke about how he viewed the city compared with villages. “City walls feel like coffins to me now,” he said. “I feel more alive in villages.”

He said he wanted to adopt a village in a hilly region and spend more time working directly with rural communities, particularly on water conservation and sustainable development.