Amol Palekar: Rajkummar Rao, Mr. Everyman who made way for Ayushmann Khurrana.Breaking through the barriers of Bollywood’s star system | Bollywood News
The 1970s was a monumental era in the history of Hindi cinema. This was the era of the ‘Angry Young Man’ Amitabh Bachchan, who introduced moviegoers to heavy hitters like Vinod Khanna, Manoj Kumar and Shashi Kapoor. But this was also a time when ordinary, real-life characters who transcended stardom and truly resonated with audiences rubbed shoulders with larger-than-life stars on screen. And such a character was skillfully played by Amol Palekar. This name has been heard by Gen Z, being compared to Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao.
With expertise in all things beautiful and artistic, perhaps gained from his training as a painter at Mumbai’s JJ Art School and his long experience as a theater artist, Palekar embodies fluid masculinity and masculinity. We find ourselves in a unique position to be an alternative to . The alpha male of the 1970s and his 1980s Hindi films. He had a charming smile that radiated optimism. He looked like the boy next door who happened to wander onto a movie set. That’s exactly how Palekar became an actor.
Drama teacher Satyadev Dubey spotted Palekar loitering in the theater while his girlfriend (now ex-wife) Chitra was rehearsing. Dubey cast him in the Marathi play Shantata! I courted Charu Ahe not because I thought he had talent, but because I felt Palekar had too much time. However, the play received rave reviews and, to Palekar’s surprise, his performance was described as “classy” by a leading critic. He hurriedly took a copy of the newspaper and showed it to Dubey, making him understand the meaning of ‘classy’.
“He said, ‘Go and look it up in a dictionary. But don’t make a fuss about the reviews.'” But he also said, “Now that people have recognized you’re good, get some serious training.” You can start now,” he added. He trained us really hard for the next play,” Palekar recalled in an interview with The Telegraph.
This fortuitous vocation led Palekar to take up the position after an eight-year clerical job at the Bank of India to support his passion for painting. He worked at a bank from 9am to 6pm and painted after 6pm. Born into a lower middle class family, the actor always had respect for money. He once told the Times of India: But my sisters Neelon, Rekha, Unnati and I have always respected money because of our upbringing. I know that my parents worked hard to earn money. ”
Born to Kamalakar, a Central Post Office employee, and Suhasini Palekar, a private company clerk, the veteran actor credits his parents for shaping his life. Despite his non-artistic background, they “allowed” him to follow his heart, but his only condition was “don’t give up midway.” “After I passed the SSC exam, I wanted to dabble in art instead of becoming a commercial artist. Baba asked me if I was ready to live a life of struggle. Not many parents would release their only son from all responsibilities and tell him to follow his heart,” the actor said.
The time spent with Dubey gave Palekar a new perspective and he honed his skills under his tutelage. At this time, he attracted the attention of Basu Chatterjee, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Shyam Benegal and others. It was Chatterjee who drew him into the world of cinema. “Basu Chatterjee, Shyam Benegal, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and several other directors of that time used to come to the theater and watch me. I was also involved in the theater movement. Then I branched out and started doing Marathi plays. They used to come regularly and observe me. They were very involved in everything I was doing. I knew about the experiment. That’s when Vasu Da asked me if I wanted to work in films,” he told Sansad TV.
He made his film debut in 1971 with the Marathi film Bajiraocha Beta. However, his acting career began in 1974 with Basu Chatterjee’s Hindi version of Rajnigandha. Earlier, he had refused to work with the director in Piya Ka Ghar (1972), in which he starred opposite Jaya Bachchan. He then explained that he did not want to “stand in line” to meet even though producer and director Tarachand Barjatiya of Rajshri Productions had already approved. “For some reason, the image of me holding a begging bowl in front of the producers was disturbing to me,” he told The Indian Express.
Chatterjee found him “arrogant”, but the incident did not sour their relationship. Together they achieved a hat-trick of Silver His Jubilee hits in Rajnigandha (1974), Choti Thibaat (1976) and Chhichhore (1976). They co-starred in three more films with ‘Baton Baton Mein’, ‘Apne Parae’ and ‘Jina Jahan’. Palekar felt that “Vasuda’s narrative style was more authentic and consistently lacked fixed cinematic calculations”. He avoided melodrama and dramatic developments in his scripts. ”
Despite the great success of Rajnigandha (1974), Choti Si Baat (1976) and Chhichhore (1976), in which he played a kind-hearted common man, Palekar refused to be put in a box as the “boy next door.” So he took on the role of Smita Patil’s suspicious husband in Shyam Benegal’s Bhumika and the manipulative hero in Bhimsen’s Garonda, and nailed both roles. But none of his non-hero roles were better than in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Gol Maal (1979). There, he played a young man who makes up stories to woo his eccentric boss.
Hrishi Da, who never gave voice-overs to actors, made an exception for his ‘Am’ and explained everything you need to know about the film. “Normally I don’t discuss the role of an artist with them before filming starts, but in Amol’s case I did. I knew he was always trying to understand the essence of the character, and I knew he was always trying to understand the essence of the character. Being a quintessential actor, he has come up with suggestions that work,” Mukherjee told Screen.
Although he took full advantage of the good roles of prolific directors who brought the middle class to the screen, the actor felt his “greatest” strength was saying “no” and going against the flow. . At the beginning of his career alone, he rejected 9-10 films without any regrets. “I never followed a set pattern,” the actor told Sansad TV, but added, “I was one of the first actors to break the star system in Bollywood.” His fourth film was Shyam Benegal’s Bhumika, in which he played the villain. Many asked why he plays a villain when he has given three hit films as a hero. I said to them, “As an actor, this is one of the biggest challenges, but I really enjoy it and I want to do it.” I continued to break down barriers and continued to look for roles that would challenge me as an actor. ”
But Palekar felt the industry “never accepted me” as he told TOI, “I was always the Lone Ranger.”
The poster child of the middle-of-the-road film industry turned down film roles in 1986 and began directing films. He made his directorial debut with the Marathi murder drama Akhlait (1980), followed by Ankahi (1985), Thoddasa Roomni Ho Jaai (1990) and Dhailaa (1996). ), Khairy (2000) and Paheli (2005). ). Palekar’s directorial films mostly focused on social issues. Kairee (1999) talked about the rights of the girl child, while Daayraa (1996) questioned the concept of sexuality and presented a love story between a gender fluid person and a woman who was thrown out of her home. But he was careful not to sound preachy. “Sandesh dene ke liye main film nahi banata, vo toh netaa karte hi rehte hain (I don’t make films to convey a message. That’s a politician’s job),” he once said in an interview.
However, his vision as a director is reflected in the following words on his website: “Exploring different aspects of male-female relationships is the underlying theme of most of my films. By destroying the archetypes of cumulative silence and exploitation, my protagonists move towards love and empathy. I also chose to portray a simple but autonomous and unconventional female character.”
Palekar has also directed television shows, most famously Kutch Dhoop (1987) and Muriganai (1991). The last film he directed was We Are On! Hun Jau Dia in 2013. During this period, Palekar also donned the hat of a painter and theater artist. “This ecosystem was such that from 1967 to 1984 I was able to immerse myself in all three of my creative endeavors: painting, theater, and film,” he said in a 2019 interview.
While many might think he dabbled in these three creative fields out of genuine interest, he admits that he kept switching back and forth because he got “bored” with success. I did. “My problem is that I get bored easily with so-called success. When I first said it, it seemed like an arrogant statement, but once you do something well and people like it, you stop enjoying it. So the challenge is always to try something different,” Palekar told Scroll.
His commitment to living life on his own terms and disobeying his country is evident in his unabashed views on politics and what’s going on in this country. He had no hesitation in calling ‘Kashmir Files’ and ‘Kerala Story’ ‘propaganda films’. He spoke out against violations of free speech in 2019 when an exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art (NGMA) was interrupted for speaking out against government policies. He also objected to the prior censorship of films by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and suggested that the role of the censor board should be limited to certifying films.
He said: “As a citizen and a creative person, I am interested in contemporary spaces and our lives. If politics affects this space, I will be involved. I don’t see myself as an island, unaffected by what’s going on around me.” And no matter the outcome, he will continue to “criticize, question, and protest.”
That’s for real life. For the life of the reel, Amol Palekar will continue to be a reminder of a bygone era. He will continue to be an ordinary person who finds happiness in the small things in his life, even as he deals with the monotony of his job and a difficult boss.
(Tag Translation) Amol Palekar
