Mumbai/Varanasi, Nov 16
A day after Nana Patekar smacked a pesky teenaged boy for attempting to click a selfie, the veteran actor on Thursday profusely apologised, terming it as a case of "mistaken" identity, though the purported act was part of his upcoming film 'Journey' sequence, here.
Under massive fire for apparently losing his cool and roughly whacking the young boy who sneaked in from behind to click a selfie with him on Wednesday, Patekar said the scene on the viral video was actually a rehearsal for a sequence on similar lines.
"We had done one take when a person comes from behind and asks, 'Will you sell me your hat', and I whack him saying 'stop such nonsense' and pushed him off," said Patekar.
Later, the film director Anil Sharma said there should be another take of the same scene and as it was being shot, the unidentified teenager suddenly stepped in from behind, as intended in the film sequence.
"I thought he was our boy, so I hit him, saying 'stop such nonsense, get out of here', and the shaken boy ran off...," Patekar explained, sounding embarrassed.
Belatedly realising the goof-up that snowballed into a social media troll army pounding Patekar for hitting the innocent boy on his "chhota dimaag" (small brain), a famous dialogue from the 1994 film, 'Krantiveer', the film unit people shouted behind the boy and some persons went after him.
However, apparently bewildered by Patekar's unexpected reactions and the rap on the "chhota dimaag", the scared boy had run off.
A day later, Patekar, 72, apologised at least thrice to that unknown boy, while proclaiming "that I always love my fans and would never think of doing any such acts", and praised the people of Varanasi who had showered so much love and affection during the ongoing shooting there.
Usually composed Patekar seemed to have lost his cool in a public location shooting stint in a market place in Varanasi, clad in brown check suit, with a fawn-coloured hat and a scarf, smiling and waving out to his fans with his salt-and-pepper beard prominent.
Suddenly, the youngster materialised right next to Patkar, stood momentarily with the actor - who found it apparently too close for comfort - and raised his mobile phone to click a selfie.
Seemingly irked by the brazenness of that teenager, Patekar gave him a resounding thump on the rear side of his head "chhota dimaag", as he was famed for discovering in 'Krantiveer' and as the boy lunged ahead, a security personnel dragged him and pushed him away from the spot.
While the youngster was packed off, Patekar turned around and pointed a finger at him, probably as a mild warning to other potential fans to refrain from such antics, as witnessed in the viral video.
The fracas which now Patekar has himself revealed as a part of the film shoot, earned the actor some sagely advice, asking him "to show this anger in reel life, not real life."
Patekar is currently in the holy city to shoot for film-maker Anil Sharma's next venture, 'Journey'.
