Filmmaker Prakash Jha and actress Deepti Naval’s daughter Dishaa Jhaa, who is making her debut as a series producer on a major OTT platform with ‘Sankalp’, has shared her experience working with the veteran actor Nana Patekar, adding that he cooked mutton very fondly for the team.

Dishaa began her career in films with ‘Raajneeti’, in which she worked as a costume assistant. She had earlier produced the feature ‘Fraud Saiyyan’.

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She said that the senior actor is like family to her as he was one of the first people to see her when she was born.

Walking down the memory lane, she said: “Working with him on ‘Raajneeti’ was a different experience as I was a costume assistant then and in those days, ran around the set to take costume continuity pictures. And he was always very thorough with his continuity; of any costume in the way he held his glasses, which hand, which side his angrakha was. Sometimes I would have to go recheck the pictures but before I could confirm, he always knew in which hand he was holding. His sense of perfection and focus on the set has remained with me and been a big influence on me.”

She then spoke about her experience of working with him again in ‘Sankalp’ in the capacity of a producer.

She said: “During ‘Sankalp’ shoot too, it was not very different. Here I used to watch the young costume assistants get confused with continuity but he always knew his continuity.”

She further mentioned: “He is still a child at heart, he likes to be among people. I would hardly see him go back to his vanity. He used to eat with everyone on the set. And always checked if everyone had eaten including the spot boys. He loved to sit and joke with the ADs and of course, while he loved his food, also he enjoyed cooking – he used to cook mutton very fondly, and he used to make it very often for the entire team – the ADs, technicians, and his co-actors.”

She added: “For me, it’s always a pleasure to collaborate with actors whom I have grown up around. It doesn’t feel like work at all. We shot with Nana sir for about 30 days but we had so much fun, that the time just flew by and before we knew it he was leaving the set at the schedule wrap.”