Nana Patekar: 'Repair Shivaji Maharaj's old forts first if you want to respect his memory'

Recently, the Maharashtra Government allocated a whopping amount of 3600 crores for the construction of a statue of Shivaji Maharaj off the Mumbai coast and while opinions are divided on whether it makes sense to spend so much money on a statue when there are so many other issues worthy of attention in the state, veteran actor Nana Patekar made his stand clear during a recent event.

When asked for his opinion on the plans for a statue, Nana said, ''I respect Shivaji Maharaj a lot and look up to him. However, having said that, I feel that if the government wishes to respect his memory, it should first repair all those old forts, which had been constructed by Shivaji first. Also, his memory would be respected if his ideals and principles are inculcated.''

Nana was in the news recently for saying that actors are like termites and that people should stop listening to Bollywood actors, who are lending support to Pakistani artistes (clearly, Nana was referring to Salman Khan, who said that Pakistani artistes are not terrorists and that politics and art should not be mixed in the wake of the anti-Pakistan sentiments following the militant attack on the Indian Army base in Uri).