KRANTIVEER remains one of the defining films of Nana Patekar’s career but long before it achieved cult status,screen legend Dilip Kumar predicted that the Krantiveer label will stay with Nana forever. Nana, known for his versatility and powerful screen presence across films such as SalaamBombay!,Khamoshi and Welcome, passed away at his Goaresidence in the early hours of  Thursday. The anecdote about Dilip Kumar’s comments was narrated by Krantiveer director Mehul Kumar two years ago when the movie completed 30 years. “Dilip Kumar sawthe trial of the movie Krantiveer at Ajanta Arts of Sunil Dutt. So in the trial there was Dilip sahab, Saira(Bano) ji and some of our family members,” Kumar had told YouTube channel Bollywood Thikana. “When the trial finished, Dilip Sahab came out and there was amarble chair with Nargisji’spicture in the back drop. He sat there and I wondered what dialoguehe would say. He called me and said you have made such a movie that there is a hangover of it,”the veteran director recalled. Pointing to the picture of Nargis, Dilip Kumar stated that “atthis very spot, after watching the trial of Mother India,Itold Nargis that no matter what you do from here on, the label of‘ Mother India’ would always be with you. “You tell this to Nana that no matter what he does from hereon the label of Krantiveer will always remain with him,” Kumar further recalled.

 

Dilip Kumar praised the movie, he added. “I went home and called Nana and told him that Dilip sahab saw the film and said that ‘no matter what Nana does the label of Krantiveer would be there with him for a lifetime’and look today, Krantiveer and Nana are inseparable even today,” Kumar told the channel in 2024. Incidentally,the lone Film fare Best Actor award that Nana won was for Krantiveer and it was none other than Dilip Kumar who presented him the award. Later,in an interview, Patekar said Kumar invited him over to his house after he won the Filmfare best actor trophy. “I am so lucky to have met such legends. Dilip Kumar called me home once. It was raining, and I got soaked. He sawme, and the first thing he didwas to bring atowel and dry me off himself. Then, he brought one of his own kurtas and gave it to me,”Nana said, adding that he doesn’t need any other award. Krantiveer was a1994 action crime film directed and produced by Mehul Kumar. The film stared Nana Patekar, Dimple Kapadia, Atul Agnihotri,Mamta Kulkarni in the lead roles.Farida Jalal, Paresh Rawal, Tinu Anand, Danny Denzongpa played key supporting roles. It won four Filmfare Awards and one National Film Award. Nana won both the national award and the Filmfare Awards for the best actor that year for his performance in Krantiveer. Patekar played the role of a wayward son of a freedom fighter,who later becomes a man who fights for the welfare of poor. Patekar’s popular dialogue “Yeh Musalman ka khoon, yeh Hindu ka khoon, bata ismein Musalman ka kaunsa, Hindu ka kaunsa, bata” is still cited as one of the most impactful scenes on communal harmony in a main stream Hindi film.