SRK recalls how Nana Patekar got him out of jail

A 2012 THiNK fest clip has found a second life: Shah Rukh Khan, explaining how he changed early in his film career, told the room about the night Nana Patekar helped get him out of jail. The story is resurfacing now as fans remember the late actor.

It is the kind of story that changes how a star is remembered: less about stardom and more about the people who kept him steady before the world knew his name.

The joke, the journalist and the lock-up

SRK was recently married to Gauri Khan when a magazine ran a joke linking him romantically with a co-star. He said the report disturbed his wife, and he decided to confront the journalist who had written it.

By his own account, Shah Rukh admitted that he behaved badly during that confrontation and later found himself in police custody. When he was allowed one phone call from the lock-up, he did not call family or a lawyer. He called the same journalist and threatened him again.

That was the moment Nana stepped in.

“I was very embarrassed and I decided to change myself because the wife was very disturbed. Nana got me out of the jail finally, and he was very sweet,” Shah Rukh said during the conversation.

Why the memory matters now

After Nana Patekar’s death, Shah Rukh remembered him as a “mentor, teacher, critic and friend.” The two first worked together on Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992) and later shared the screen in Shakti: The Power (2002), where SRK made a special appearance.

That early film shaped more than his filmography. Nana corrected him on the first day itself:

“Hero ki tarah Baal mat bana…tu actor hai!”

Roughly: don’t style your hair like a hero; you are an actor. It was Nana’s blunt affection in one line.

That correction stayed with Shah Rukh far beyond the 1990s. His tribute after Nana’s death included regret that they did not have more time for conversations, arguments, tea and carrom games—small details that make the tribute feel less like a formal statement and more like a friend missing a friend.

• A viral 2012 clip has reignited the early-career anecdote after Nana’s death.
• SRK admits the confrontation was badly handled and says Nana helped him get bail.
• He remembers Nana shouting, then making people feel cared for.

What SRK says he took from it

Looking back, Shah Rukh said he tried to become more measured over the years, though he joked that his Delhi side still resurfaces. The real takeaway is relational: Nana’s toughness and his sweetness were not opposites; they were the same care, delivered without sugar-coating.

For fans, it is also a reason to revisit the teacher-student chemistry in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman and remember a mentor who corrected a young actor’s hairstyle and later stood by him.

Source: India Today