Nana Patekar Dies at 75, Tanushree Dutta’s Remark Draws Backlash
India woke up on Thursday, October 8, to the news that one of its most intense screen presences was gone. The Nana Patekar death was reported from Goa, where the 75-year-old actor was found unconscious at his Dona Paula home and taken to Manipal Hospital, Bambolim. He was declared dead on arrival. Within hours, a second story began to spread alongside the tributes.
What We Know About the Nana Patekar Passing
Reports say Nana Patekar passes away after a suspected cardiac arrest. Panaji police have registered a routine unnatural death case under Section 194 of the BNSS, which reports describe as standard procedure, and an inquiry is ongoing. His son, Malhar Patekar, said his father “never truly leaves us,” according to The Statesman.
The Nana Patekar last rites in Pune were held late on Thursday night with full state honours, and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were among those who visited the family farmhouse.
Tanushree Dutta Breaks Silence on Nana Patekar’s Death
While Tanushree Dutta was travelling to Lucknow for an event, her reaction first came as an Instagram video. As reported by ETV Bharat, she offered condolences to the family
and said she would share a fuller response once she knew what kind of reaction she should have. Outlets describe that first video differently. Some reports say she was voicing concern that the media would fixate on her words, while others say she used the phrase “evil dead” .
What is clearer is what followed. In an interview with IANS, reported by The Statesman, she described him in strong terms and explained her stance by pointing to what she said were five difficult years after 2018. Later reports, including one from IBNS, say she stood by Tanushree Dutta's evil dead remark and alleged threats and attempts to pay her off. Those claims have not been independently established.
The AICWA Statement and the Backlash
The Tanushree Dutta backlash was swift. The All Indian Cine Workers Association, in a statement signed by president Suresh Shyamlal Gupta, condemned the remark. As carried by IANS, the AICWA Tanushree Dutta statement said that using such words for someone after his death “goes against basic humanity.” Several outlets also report that the association called the comment cheap publicity. Dutta has responded to her critics on Instagram and made it clear she is standing by her claims, as reported by Free Press Journal and other outlets.
The 2008 Allegations and the MeToo Case
The story starts on the sets of Horn ‘Ok’ Pleassss in 2008, when Tanushree Dutta said Nana Patekar behaved inappropriately with her during the shoot of a song. Patekar denied it at the time. When Dutta raised the issue again in September 2018, he denied it once more. That revival is widely seen as the spark for #MeToo in Indian cinema.
A month later, in October 2018, Dutta lodged an FIR at Oshiwara police station. Patekar’s lawyer dismissed her claims as false and said a legal notice would be sent. By June 2019, the police had finished looking into the complaint. Their conclusion, set out in the Nana Patekar B-summary report, was that the evidence didn’t support moving ahead. The matter came to a formal end in March 2025, when the Tanushree Dutta MeToo court order was issued by a magistrate in Andheri, who ruled that the complaint had come in long after the limitation period had lapsed.
Whatever the reports and legal experts say elsewhere, they agree that the court left the truth of the allegations undecided. No trial was held. The allegations were never tested in court, and Patekar always denied them.
Mourning, MeToo and the Space in Between
Opinion is divided, and it’s easy to see why. Some people feel grief should come first. To them, the words and the timing felt harsh for a family that had just lost someone. Others see it differently. They hear a woman who says she spent years living with the aftermath of speaking up, and for them this moment brings back a bigger question about what happens to such complaints once they’re filed. Both views are being voiced loudly right now.
Both views are being aired loudly, and neither changes the legal record: unproven, denied and closed on a technicality.
As the Nana Patekar Tanushree Dutta controversy returns to the headlines, our thoughts are with the Patekar family. SheInspire Magazine extends its condolences to them, and we hope the conversation that follows stays respectful and rooted in facts.
