Born Vishwanath Patekar in Murud-Janjira, Maharashtra, to Dinkar Patekar (a painter) and his wife Sanjanabai Patekar. He is an alumnus of the Sir JJ Institute of Applied Art, Mumbai. He acted in movies such as Gaman (1978), Mohre (1987) and Salaam Bombay! (1988) and was noticed by the mainstream Bollywood industry for his portrayal of the villain in the 1989 film, Parinda, for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was also awarded the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for the role. He won the Filmfare Best Villain Award in 1992 for Angaar. In 1994, he won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in Krantiveer (1994). He also won the Filmfare Award and the Star Screen Awards in the best actor category. Patekar has played various type of roles. He has played the occasional villain but has played a hero in most of his films. He played a truant, gambling son in Krantiveer (1994), a wife beater in Agni Sakshi (1996), a deaf father to his then off-screen lover Manisha Koirala in Khamoshi: The Musical (1996) and a schizophrenic in Wajood (1998). In the movie Ab Tak Chappan (2005) he plays a police officer who is a sharpshooter. Patekar has also done Comic roles in the recent film Welcome (2007) in which he plays a powerful crime lord who once desired to be an actor in films. He turned director with his movie Prahaar: The Final Attack co-starring Madhuri Dixit. His other films as an actor include Hu Tu Tu and Bluff Master ...
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