Nana Patekar sir will be remembered for his incredible body of work in Indian cinema. I will remember him for something very personal.
Nana sir was kind enough to do Jar's first big screen ad campaign. I still vividly remember the day of the shoot. It was our first brand shoot, and I reached the studio early in the morning, not knowing what to expect. There were hundreds of people, lights, cameras, equipment and so much happening around. I couldn't believe it took so many people to shoot a 20 second ad!
Nana sir's call sheet said 9 AM. He had arrived much earlier, finished his makeup and was ready. At sharp 9, he stepped onto the set. The entire place went into pindrop silence. Just seconds ago, it was chaotic and noisy. That was the kind of respect he commanded. He walked towards the director's chair and asked, "Suna ki malik yahan hai, kaun hai malik?" I didn't immediately realise he was referring to me. Coming from the startup world, where we call ourselves founders and co-founders, I had never thought of myself as a "malik". In fact, I found the word a little regressive. But it was also a reminder of the kind of audience we were building Jar for.
The shoot started, and Nana sir took absolute control. There were times when the director was happy with a shot, but he wasn't. "Nahi, phir se karenge." He would improvise and do it again. He gave 100% to every shot. We finished everything we had planned in those eight hours.
At the end of the shoot, he came back near the director's chair and asked, "Malik kahan hai?" He asked me to come to his caravan. The crew and agency folks were anxious. Nana sir was known to scold people if he didn't like something. Everyone thought something had gone wrong and he wanted to complain. But the moment we stepped inside, he made me sit down, offered me a glass of water and said, "Jo tum kaam kar rahe ho, bahut achha kaam hai. Bhagwan ka kaam kar rahe ho."
He shared a personal story. When he started making movies and received his first big paycheque of around ₹5 lakh, he went home and told his mother. That's when his mother revealed that all her jewellery was fake. She had sold her real jewellery over the years to raise her children and run the household. She asked him if he could buy her some jewellery with the money he had earned. He told me he went and bought five kilos of gold. Gold was around ₹1 lakh a kilo back then. He said he still had that gold.
He then spoke about how important gold was to Indian households. How it had saved families during difficult times, helped parents educate their children, pay for healthcare, put food on the table and lead a respectable life. He told me that if Jar could help millions of ordinary Indians accumulate an asset like gold, even in very small amounts, we were doing God's work. He wished us all the best and said he would pray for our success.
I've thought about that conversation many times since. Nana sir, thank you for agreeing to do our first big campaign, for giving your 100% to those 20 seconds, and most importantly, for that conversation and your blessings.
Om Shanti 🙏