Nana Patekar clarifies controversial slap incident, says, ‘This happened by mistake... please forgive me’

In a recent video shared by actor Nana Patekar on X, he responded to the controversy surrounding a video where he appeared to slap a fan for taking a selfie on set. The actor explained that he thought that it was part of a scene from his upcoming film, where he thought the fan was a crew member participating in it. 

In the video, Nana said in Hindi, “Namaskar. A video is going viral where I hit a boy. There is a sequence in the film where a boy comes from behind and says ‘Ae budhau, topi bechni hai (hey old man, do you want to sell your hat)?' and I catch him, smack him and ask him to behave properly and he runs away. 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.”

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The actor also expressed his desire to apologise to the fan but noted that the individual ran away out of fear before they could locate him. The actor asserted that he has never refused a photo request before and attributed the incident to a genuine misunderstanding.

He added, “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...”

Director Anil Sharma also supported Nana’s statement, emphasising that the scene was shot for their film Journey. He clarified that Nana’s character in the film has dementia, and the sequence involved a fan approaching him for a photo. He was quoted as saying, “People have a problem of making a fuss out of nothing.”

Here's a video of the incident

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The controversy stirred after the video went viral, prompting the actor and the director to clarify the context of the scene. Nana is currently filming Journey in Varanasi, where he will continue shooting for the next two weeks. The film also features Utkarsh Sharma, known for his role in Gadar 2.