Nana Patekar Once Refused to Work With Leonardo DiCaprio; Anurag Kashyap Reveals Why

Nana Patekar is known for his strong roles on-screen. But did you know he once refused to work on a Hollywood project opposite Leonardo DiCaprio? The actor was offered to play the role of a terrorist in Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies.

In an interview with Lallantop, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap revealed the reason why Nana Patekar turned down the offer. He revealed that Nana Patekar was offered a role in the international film The Pool, which went on to win a prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Later, Hollywood director Ridley Scott decided to cast Nana Patekar in Body of Lies but the latter refused to take up the role.

The filmmaker said, “Ridley Scott ka mail aaya. Unko Nana Patekar chahiye they Body of Lies ke liye. Mark Strong ke role ke liye. Toh Nana Patekar ke paas main waapas gaya. Maine kaha Ridley Scott ko Mark ke character ke liye aap chahiye. Unhonein kahaa kya hai, baat ki aur bole yeh terrorist ka role hai main nahin karoonga aur mana kar diya. (Ridley Scott emailed me. He wanted to cast Nana Patekar for body of Lies, for the role of Mark Strong. I went back to Nana Patekar. He asked about the role and refused to do the film since he was not ready to play a terrorist.)”

During the same interview, Kashyap also narrated an interesting story involving Amitabh Bachchan. While shooting the television show Yudh, director Anurag Kashyap recalled telling Amitabh Bachchan to soften his performance, which caused the show’s producers to worry that the legendary actor may take offence and leave the project in a huff. He said, “Woh criticism bohot ache se lete hain. Wahan Amitabh Bachchan wali acting ho rahi thi, aur maine unko bola, ‘Sir, yeh nahi chahiye, yeh toh aankh band karke bhi Amitabh Bachchan kaisi acting karta hai dekh sakta hoon. Real karna hai (He takes criticism well. I noticed that he was delivering a typical Amitabh Bachchan-style performance, and I wanted something more real, and this is what I told him).”

Anurag Kashyap said that while producers were nervous about what would happen next, the superstar contemplated and then decided to go do what he asked him.

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