The film is a tragedy about a veteran theatre actor named Ganpat "Appa" Belwalkar (Nana Patekar) who has been the best of his lot during his heyday, garnering fame and fortune acting in plays based on various works, especially William Shakespeare's. It is a tragedy of a veteran actor who enjoyed a very vital importance in his life but who becomes the victim of old age alienation and estrangement. The film reveals an intensely tragic fate of an actor who becomes victim of fate and fortune in old age, which is similar to the fate of Lear. Natsamrat suffers the pangs of old age and dishonor inflicted on him by his own children. It is a tragedy of great humanist and actor who succumbs to the ill fate and destiny. In fact, Natsamrat is a story of Ganpatrao Belvalkar, who withstands great suffering after his retirement from stage acting.