Veteran Indian actor Nana Patekar, known for his intense, fiery performances on stage and in film, has died at the age of 75 in Goa.
One of the most recognisable faces of Indian cinema, Patekar won three National Film Awards and became known for playing difficult and often volatile characters. He was also a prominent figure in Marathi language cinema and theatre.
He was admitted to a hospital after being found unconscious at his home in Goa in the early hours of Thursday.
“Despite 45 minutes of continuous CPR, he could not be revived,” Dr Shekhar Salkar of Manipal Hospital in Goa told ANI news agency. Tributes have poured in from actors and politicians across India.
Dr Salkar later told PTI news agency that the hospital team found Patekar at his home “unconscious and almost unresponsive”.
The team continued giving him CPR even while taking him to the hospital, located about 10 minutes away, but he was dead by the time they reached there, he added.
Dr Salkar said Patekar had suffered a cardiac arrest, but it was not clear what had triggered it.
Family, friends and fans paid their last respects to the actor at Goa Medical College, ahead of his funeral which was to take place later in the day with full state honours at his farm house in the western city of Pune in Maharashtra state.