Veteran actor Nana Patekar on Wednesday garnered headlines and started trending on social media after a video showed him whacking a selfie-seeking fan on the sets of his film Journey in Varanasi. As netizens accused him of being rude, the actor has clarified the same stating he would never do something like that.
The video shows Nana dressed in a suit and wearing a hat, getting ready to shoot a scene when the fan comes close to him and tries to click a selfie. The visibly angry actor hit the fan on the back of his head. A crew member stationed close to Nana then grabs the young man by his neck and takes him away.
In a video shared on social media, Nana said, "A video is going viral where I have hit a boy. Though this sequence is a part of our film, we had one rehearsal...We were scheduled to have a second rehearsal. The director told me to begin. We were about to begin when the boy in the video came in. I didn't know who he was, I thought he was one of our crew so I slapped him as per the scene and I told him to leave. Later, I came to know that he was not a part of the crew. So, I was going to call him back but he ran away. Maybe his friend shot the video. I have never said no to anybody for a photo. I don't do this...This happened by mistake...If there is some misunderstanding, please forgive me...I will never do anything like this..."
Journey director Anil Sharma of Gadar 2 fame also shed light on the same and told PTI, "He (Patekar) has not slapped anyone, it is a shot from our film. People have a problem of making fuss out of nothing... We are currently filming in Benaras for the film, 'Journey'.”
"Patekar's character has dementia in the film. His mind is disturbed and a guy comes to click picture with him. There are so many people around us, who are here to watch the shoot. I think someone clicked this particular portion, which is actually one of the scenes from the film," he added.
