Vishwanath "Nana" Patekar is an Indian actor, writer and filmmaker. He was born on 1 January 1951 in Murud-Janjira, Maharashtra, India. Nana Patekar is a former student of Sir J.J Institute of Applied Arts, Mumbai. Ever since his college life, he had been active in the field of drama and had participated in numerous inter-college dramatics. Apart from dramatics, he also had a talent in sketching and has helped the Mumbai police in several occasions. He is often touted as the most controversial actor in Bollywood for his dialogues and acting styles. Nana Patekar has been awarded Padma Shri award for his dedication in the field of Films and Arts in 2013 on the eve of 64th Republic Day.

Nana Patekar started his journey in the film industry in 1974 with his film ‘Garman’, directed by Muzaffar Ali. Next, he went on to appear in numerous movies such as Raghuvir Kul’s ‘Mohre’ (1987), Mira Nair’s ‘Salaam Bombay!’ (1988), but he came into the limelight after his tremendous acting as a villain in the film ‘Parinda’ (1989). This film brought him appreciation from around the industry and he went on to win the National Film Award and the Filmfare Award for the Best Supporting Actor categories for this film. Apart from acting, Nana Patekar has also achieved recognition as a film maker. One of his first movie to hit the screens was ‘Prahar: The Final Attack’ which had the Bollywood beauty, Madhuri Dixit in its ranks. Nana Patekar even did a little bit of playback singing in movies like ‘Aanch’ (2003), Wajood (1998) and Yeshwant (1997).