Manisha Koirala was notoriously famous for her romantic liaisons. “I love my men,” proclaimed Manisha Koirala once with pride. But her most talked about affair was with a 20-year-older and married, Nana Patekar. Unlike other actors, Manisha and Nana never hid their relationship behind closed doors. They were quite vocal about it.
This all began in the early 90s. Nana was a rage in the film industry. Though not the most conventional looking hero-material, his acting abilities were sub-par. Manisha, who was just out of a relationship with actor Vivek Mushran (Saudagar co-star), met Nana on the sets of Agnisakshi. Manisha couldn’t help falling for Nana’s brooding charm and they started secretly dating during the making of the movie. However, their romance didn’t remain a secret as unit members and Manisha’s neighbours, happily informed anyone that Nana was regularly spotted leaving her house at the wee hours of dawn.
Next, they appeared together in filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Khamoshi. By this time, both Manisha and Nana were hounded by the press about their off-screen chemistry. Manisha finally accepted that Nana and she were together and Nana also saw no point in denying the relationship.
Interestingly,even though Nana was married, his wife ( Neelakanti) wasn’t living with him.Â
However, this relationship was meant to go downhill, as Manisha and Nana were known for their infamous volatile tempers and were caught arguing on many occasions. Reportedly, Nana grew extremely possessive of Manisha while they were in a relationship. He would object if she wore revealing outfits or got intimate with her co-stars. During the making of Yugpurush, Nana had a huge showdown with Manisha as he didn’t approve of certain outfits that she was wearing! Their disagreements extended to a point where they even stopped talking to each other for some time.
Amidst this troubled time,Manisha openly stated that even though she loves Nana, she doesn’t know where the relationship is heading. As per an industry insider, Manisha was really in love with him and he loved her back. But she couldn’t deal with his infidelity.
The turning point in their relationship came, when Manisha found Nana and Ayesha Jhulka in an embrace in a closed room. Despite being really angry at Nana, Ayesha was the first one Manisha yelled at. “Get off my man, you bi**&” were apparently Manisha’s exact words to Ayesha when she first saw them together! Though Ayesha and Nana vehemently denied any romantic liaison, Nana was quite successful in getting Manisha to believe this as well.
Nonetheless, the real reason the two parted ways was because of Nana’s refusal to marry Manisha. He made it clear to her that in no certain terms would he legally divorce his wife, Neelakanti. Manisha, who didn’t want to bear the tag of ‘another woman’, parted ways with him. She eventually dated other men and Nana and Ayesha made their relationship official by living together.
In a later interview to Filmfare, Nana did confess how much he misses Manisha. “She is the most sensitive actress around. She is like a kasturi hiran, she still needs to realise that she doesn’t need to keep pace with anyone. She has it all and that’s more than enough. I can barely hold back the tears when I see what she’s doing to herself. Maybe I don’t have anything to say about her today! A break-up is a very difficult phase. You have to experience it to know the pain. I can’t describe the pain I went through. Please, let’s not talk about this. I miss Manisha!”
Manisha later married Samrat Dahal, a Nepali businessman, but got divorced in 2012. Nana, on the other hand, got divorced from Neelakanthi and the couple has a son Malhar Patekar.
To love and heartbreaks….
