‘Nana Patekar slapped me in a scene, I had tears in my eyes so I slapped him back’: Madhoo

3 min readNew DelhiJun 6, 2026 11:59 AM IST

Nana Patekar and Madhoo worked together in Yeshwant. (File photo)

Nana Patekar is famously known for his intense acting style, fiery temperament, and occasional on-set clashes. One such incident occurred during the making of the 1997 film Yeshwant, when he ended up slapping his co-star Madhoo during a scene — only for her to immediately slap him back. The two actors played husband and wife in director Anil Mattoo’s film. Recalling the incident in an interview with Hindi Rush, Madhoo revealed that the scene required her to cry, but Nana strongly objected when she reached for glycerin.

“With Nana Patekar, I became a method actor,” she said. “There was a scene where I was supposed to use glycerin. He didn’t let me use it. He was like, ‘Feel it, you should have natural tears.’ But I couldn’t do it. What he did then was slap me for real. He slapped me so hard that I naturally had tears in my eyes.” The actress admitted that the unexpected slap left her furious.

“I was extremely mad at him because we had done rehearsals and he hadn’t done anything like that. His sudden slap shocked me. And I am so short-tempered that I slapped him back. He hit me and my reflex was to hit him back,” she recalled.

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Ironically, the emotionally charged moment ended up working for the scene. “It was the most crucial scene of Yeshwant, and director Anil Mattoo had dedicated an entire day to shoot it. Because everything happened so naturally, we wrapped it up in half a day. Nana was like, ‘After this scene, what more shots do you want? Finish. Scene over.’ I became a method actor with him.”

Despite the incident, Madhoo clarified that Nana was never disrespectful towards her. “Nana was never rude to me. He only showed displeasure when he wanted me to improve my performance. He would get upset when I used glycerin or stepped out of the character’s mood after a shot. I am a switch-on, switch-off actor, but Nanaji was against it. He believed in living the character you are playing.”

This isn’t the first time stories about Nana’s demanding nature on set have surfaced. Previously, filmmaker Sai Paranjpye recalled her experience working with the actor on the 1990 film Disha. Speaking about an argument over a pair of slippers, she said, “I lost my temper and asked him to leave. I told him to either do this or walk out. I said, ‘I have had enough of your tantrums. Can’t you behave like a professional?'”

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According to Sai, Nana stormed off the set but returned about half an hour later. “He came back and warned me, ‘You are safe because you are a woman, otherwise you would not have been here,’ and then he stormed out again,” she recalled.