Not in 'Welcome 3' as makers may have thought I'm dated, says Nana Patekar

There is no dearth of roles for an actor in the film industry if the intention is to do good work, veteran actor Nana Patekar said on Tuesday, responding to queries about his absence from the third part of the Welcome franchise.

Patekar has been an integral part of the comedy franchise, which includes 2007's Welcome and its 2015 follow-up Welcome Back. He played the role of don Uday Shetty in both films, directed by Anees Bazmee.

In the third part, which was announced last week, Akshay is returning to the franchise, but without Anil Kapoor and Patekar.

"I'm not doing 'Welcome (to the Jungle)' because they may think I've become dated, that's why they didn't take me," the actor said at the trailer launch of his upcoming film The Vaccine War, directed by Vivek Agnihotri.

"He (Agnihotri) doesn't feel I've become old, so he took me. It's that simple. The industry is never shut for you, if you want to do good work. People will keep coming to you and offer you parts if you want to keep working hard. You need to know if you want to do a role. You need to know whether you wish to work, can work, so I take this (The Vaccine War) as my first and last chance," Patekar added.

The third part of the Welcome franchise has been titled Welcome to the Jungle.

Ahmed Khan will direct the film, which will feature an ensemble cast of Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Raveena Tandon, Johnny Lever, Paresh Rawal, Lara Dutta, Rajpal Yadav, Arshad Warsi, Jacqueline Fernandez, Shreyas Talpade, Tusshar Kapoor and Disha Patani. Singers Daler Mehndi and Mika Singh round out the cast.

The Vaccine War, according to Agnihotri, is India's 'first ever bio-science' movie. It is based on the true story of Indian scientists in their fight against Covid-19 by developing an affordable vaccine for India and the world, the filmmaker added.

The film is produced by Pallavi Joshi and I Am Buddha, and will be released in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu on September 28.