Indian character actor Nana Patekar thinks two-year break helped him revive career

Indian actor Nana Patekar said Friday he took a two-year break from acting because he was bored of the villain roles he was always cast in.

Photo: Indian character actor Nana Patekar thinks two-year break helped him revive career

Patekar, who began his career as a stage actor and went on to play strong character roles in dozens of Hindi language movies, told Bombay-based DNA newspaper it was important to constantly innovate.

"I carried on doing the same kind of roles in the same kind of films," he said. "I, myself was so bored so I don't blame the audience for getting tired of me."

He said he traveled and met people during his two-year break before returning to movie-making early last year.

Patekar's recent roles in blockbuster hit "Bluffmaster," where he plays a mafia don with a comic edge and "Salaam Namaste" or "Hello Hello," in which he played a loud, nouveau-riche Indian immigrant in Australia won him rave reviews.

But it's not as if he has turned away from playing the bad guy. In "Apaharan" or "Abduction" last year he plays a dangerous politician and king maker who is the power behind a kidnapping industry in central India.

In his new movie to be released at the end of February "Taxi No. 9211," he plays a cab driver-cum-insurance salesman who needs to make a certain amount of money by the end of the day and targets any passenger he gets.

"I have to strive to better myself," said Patekar, who has acted in more than 40 films over the past 20 years.

Patekar's office could not be independently reached for comments, reports the AP.

D.M.