What I will remember about Nana Patekar is not just the extraordinary actor he was, but the way he existed on a film set. He was friends with everyone. It didn’t matter whether you were an actor, a technician, or a spot boy; he made himself available to people. 

One of the things I will always remember is his relationship with food and how he brought that to the set. Every schedule, he would cook. He would make mutton for nearly 50 people on the set, preparing the curry from scratch, grinding the spices, spending hours getting the preparation right, and then feeding everybody. He was a fantastic cook and took enormous pride in it. He would often joke about being a better cook than an actor, which, given the actor he was, was obviously quite something. His Kolhapuri-style mutton was special.