Nana Patekar’s death on October 8 following a cardiac arrest has left the film industry in a state of shock. His family, friends and colleagues are grieving the loss of the veteran actor. Among those deeply affected by his death is Anil Kapoor, who shared a close friendship with Nana. Their iconic pairing as Uday and Majnu in Welcome remains etched in the audience’s memory. Late on Thursday evening, Anil shared a photograph of himself with Nana on social media. In the backshot, the two actors can be seen walking hand in hand.Anil Kapoor shared the photograph with Nana Patekar and wrote, “Mera dost mujhe chhodkar chala gaya… pehle Satish aur ab mera Nanya. NANYA, tu achanak bohot jaldi chala gaya… Duniya ka sabse bada kalakaar, humein chhodkar hamesha-hamesha ke liye chala gaya. Bohot miss karunga tujhe, life mein, set par, phone par aur bade parde par… (sic)” (My friend has left me. First Satish, and now my Nanya. Nanya, you left us all of a sudden, far too soon. The world’s greatest actor has left us forever. I will miss you a lot, in life, on set, on the phone and on the big screen.)Take a look at the Instagram post: View this post on Instagram A post shared by anilskapoor (@anilskapoor)Sonam Kapoor also commented on her father’s post, writing, “I’m so sorry dad. You really loved him.” Sonam Kapoor comments on her father Anil Kapoor’s postAlso Read: Amitabh Bachchan pays emotional tribute to Nana Patekar on KBC 18: ‘I salute the art you lived’Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar’s friendship was well known, and the two often spoke about each other in interviews. However, their relationship had not always been smooth. Despite their initial differences, the two eventually became close friends.During his 2024 interview with The Lallantop, Nana spoke about his friendships in the film industry, including those with Jackie Shroff, Mithun Chakraborty, Danny Denzongpa and Chintu (the late Rishi Kapoor), before talking about his bond with Anil Kapoor.“Yes, we speak on call with each other. From here, I say, ‘Ae Anya,’ and from there, he says, ‘Ae Nanya.’ He’s nice, a good chap. Even now, he works so hard and does great work. He has done such a fantastic job in Animal, have you seen? I told him, ‘I saw your Anil-mal,’ and he asked me, ‘Aye Nana, kaisa laga, kaisa laga?’ (Nana, how did you find the film?) I told him, ‘Bahut accha kiya, bahut restrained, bahut accha kaam kiya.’ (You did a very great job. It was very restrained.)”For the unversed, Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar had a clash during the making of Parinda (1989), long before they became friends. Recalling the incident in the same interview, Nana revealed, “First, I was supposed to play Jackie Shroff’s (Kishen) character and Naseeruddin Shah was supposed to do Anna’s character. Naseer backed out due to some reason, and I had prepped for Jackie’s role for almost six months. Recently, I spoke to Anil, and said, ‘Sa*le Anil, tune aise bola Vinod (Vidhu Vinod Chopra) ko, ki Nana ko nikaal do?’ (Did you tell Vinod to remove Nana?). So Anil replied, ‘Sach kahu kya yaar, Nana, kya ho gaya maalum hai? Maine socha ki Nana ko kaayko main star banau yaar.’ It was obvious that you would become a star if you played Jackie’s role. Why should we make Nana a star?’Story continues below this adTo which, I told him, ‘I had told you back then that no matter which role it is, we will make stars and ensure that nobody will look at you.’ So, we had this conversation in jest. ‘Anil mein, mujh mein, sab kuch chalta hai aaj kal’ (Nowadays, we can talk about anything and everything). But at that time, he was the star, and Vinod listened to Anil, removed me, and I left.”“Then I moved towards theatre. After three or four months, Vinod came back and asked, ‘Tu Anna ka role karega kya?’ (Will you play Anna’s role?). Initially, I got very angry when I saw him. Then I said, ‘Yes, I will, but whatever price you quote in the market, I will take the exact amount, but I will write the film.’ This fire angle that is seen in the film was not there before. Ask Vinod. Call him one day and take both our interviews together; all the lights will go off here (laughs). ‘Anna ban gaya Anna’ (Anna became Anna),” said Nana Patekar.