'I miss Manisha': When Nana Patekar barely held back tears while speaking about his breakup

Nana Patekar is no more. The legendary actor breathed his last at the age of 75. He was hailed for his performances, where his mere presence could change an entire sequence. But he always kept his personal life away from the media glare. While he had long been separated from his wife, one of his reported affairs was with actress Manisha Koirala.

Both actors never spoke about it publicly, but they were a huge talking point back in the 1990s when gossip columns were filled with updates about the two. Nana and Manisha had always maintained silence when they were allegedly dating.

But after they broke up in the late 1990s, it was Nana who was unable to control his feelings and went on to say in an interview that he missed Manisha.

In a 1997 interview, it was reported that Nana shared his feelings after his breakup with Manisha.

Speaking about the same, the actor had tears in his eyes and said, “It's a very difficult phase. You have to experience it to know the pain. I can't find words to describe the pain I went through. Please, let's not talk about this. I miss Manisha.”

Patekar was married to his wife, Neelkanthi during his relationship with the actress. However, it has been said that both of them were separated. They are not divorced as of now.

After their breakup, he never spoke ill of the actress. He even hailed her as one of the most sensitive actresses.

''Manisha has an inborn talent. She’s the most sensitive actress around. She’s like a kasturi hiran, she still has to realise that she doesn’t need to keep pace with anyone. She has it all and that’s more than enough,” he said.

In the 1990s, Manisha was going through a tough phase and started drinking. In her memoir Healed, she shared, “To take my mind off shoots, to numb myself, I started drinking. If I was on a diet, it would be vodka.”

In the same interview, Nana talked about Manisha's tough phase, saying, “I can barely hold back the tears when I see what she’s doing to herself. Maybe I don’t have the right to say anything about her today.”

After Nana's death, Koirala also paid tribute to the actress. She took to her X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, “Deeply saddened by the passing of a great actor, a remarkable presence and a true stalwart of the craft.