Nana Patekar’s forgotten Tamil outing: The story of Bharathiraja’s ‘Bommalattam’

Today, as Indian cinema grieves the passing of Nana Patekar, Tamil audiences might remember the acclaimed actor for his role in Rajinikanth’s 2018 film Kaala, directed by Pa Ranjith. But back in 2008, he had already made an impressive outing in Tamil in an auteur’s work: in Bharathiraja’s Bommalattam.

The story begins in 2007 when late veteran film director Bharathiraja had an idea: a film within a film. Known in Tamil cinema for iconic films like 16 Vayathinile and Sigappu Rojakkal, Bharathiraja seemed excited about this idea, which involved a twist at the end.

To play the lead role in the film – that of a director – Bharathiraja went to Nana Patekar. “Initially, I wanted to make it only in Hindi. So I contacted Nana Patekar for the lead role. Himesh Reshammiya was in charge of the music. Then we decided to do it in Tamil also,” Bharathiraja told The Hindu back then.

The shoot of the film, also starring names like Rukmini Vijayakumar, Arjun Sarja and Kajal Agarwal, among others, was not the smoothest, according to Bharathiraja himself. “We (Nana and I) did have friction now and then, but he is one of the best around and is so dedicated. He spoke his dialogues in Tamil, which made us all happy. The other talented actor in the cast is Arjun. It was Arjun who smoothed the ruffled feathers whenever Patekar and I got into an argument,” recalled Bharathiraja.

The sets of Bommalattam also saw Nana Patekar being impressed by late comedy actor Vivekh’s sense of humour. Though the Hindi actor did not understand why the unit was laughing at a Tamil joke quipped by Vivekh, he could not control his laughter when the comedian translated the joke into English. “I knew that Tamil cinema had the best technicians, but now I find that it has the best comedians too,” Nana Patekar reportedly told Vivekh, to which the comedian responded by stating, “I told him that from N.S.Krishnan, Thangavelu, Chandra Babu, Nagesh to Vadivelu, and Manorama among female artists, we have had the best.”

Bommalattam, which hit theatres on December 12, 2008, was released with quite some buzz, with the director even challenging scribes from the press and media to guess the climax during a special screening. The Hindu’s review of the film praised Nana Patekar’s performance, stating that his “natural, underplayed expressions and excellent body language make him a film connoisseur’s delight.”