Off screen, my close buddy, more like an elder brother, Nana had a fitness fetish, and he loved cooking his own food. A versatile actor par excellence, Nana [real name Vishwanath Patekar], who played a suspended yet rebel police officer in my crime-action drama movie Yeshwant [1997], opposite actor Madhoo, was always energy and enthusiasm personified. Beyond being a fabulous, intense, romantic, and comic actor, Nana had a terrific sense of music. He often attended live classical music concerts.

Even after 30 years, Nana’s voice still resonates and reigns as a timeless audio-visual banger. [I remember] Nana had a one-line sarcastic dialogue [in Yeshwant], which I felt had the potential to click as a filmy track — Ek Machhar Saala Aadmi Ko Hijra Bana Deta Hai — picturised inside a prison cell. And who better than Nana could do justice [to it] in his signature gravelly, crackling-bass, and mesmerising voice? We brought lyricist Sameer [Anjaan] and composer duo Anand–Milind to develop that jibe-line into a three-stanza, rap-style song. Nana recorded the song in one perfect take.