Birthday Special: Amol Palekar, I can't leave the stage

Ever since the beginning of films to today, every artist has created their audience. Different audiences watch Dilip Kumar's films, while Dara Singh's audiences are also no less. Over the years there has been a trend of parallel films. And the class watching these films is completely different and Amol Palekar has succeeded in making his place in the hearts of this class of viewers.

Only two films by Amol Palekar have been released, the first is 'Rajnigandha' and the second is 'Chhoti-Si Baat'. But this cannot be called a small thing but it is a very big thing that both these films of Amol Palekar badly broke all the previous box office records (in terms of cost of film production). The surprising thing is that like any commercial film, both these films achieved the expected success. At the same time, the mouths of those people who used to say, 'Sir, what should we do, the audience likes cabaret, action and romance, we are helpless,' were silenced.

When I met Amol Palekar, I asked,

• ‘Do you want to act only in parallel films or do you also intend to work in commercial films?’

If you look at Amol Palekar carefully, you will see that this young man is exactly as he appears from inside, that is, you will see him laughing and smiling all the time. Amol replied with his familiar smile.

'Nothing happens because of an artist's liking or not. Here everything depends on the director. And then in my opinion no artist should be confined to any particular scope or role. He should accept every kind of role as a challenge and try to live up to that role and the audience likes him.' After hearing Amol's answer, I immediately asked,

• ‘How can you say that the audience has liked you in a certain role and you have lived up to it?’

Amol replied,

‘We come to know about this from the letters of the viewers and our occasional meetings with them. Audiences write letters to us when the film is released. His letters are very interesting. These letters are exactly like letters written by a father to his son. The audience lovingly praises the acting and at the same time sweetly scolds. Just by such letters, we come to know that the audience has liked our acting.

I asked the next question to Amol Palekar,

• ‘Do you consider commercial films different from parallel films?

'No.' Amol Palekar said, 'As far as I think, such films i.e. parallel films are also made on a commercial scale and their producers and directors, like the makers of commercial films, also think that our films will be successful. Do it. Yes, the presentation of both these types of films is different in their own way. Such films have also been given the name of parallel films perhaps because these films are somewhat different from ordinary films.

My next question was,

'As far as I know, you are a very good actor in the stage world and have entered films only after the stage, have you now stopped working in stage plays?'

• 'No. I started my acting career here with plays on stage. Then how can I leave the stage?

• 'Suppose tomorrow you become a big artist in India and you are working in many Hindi films at the same time, will you still act in plays?'

Then the same smile and the same way of speaking. Amol Palekar said,

'You probably don't know that I am also a painter. Along with painting, I started working in plays. Along with plays, I appeared in films, but my passion for painting remains the same. I still paint, participate in plays, and work in films. You just said that I would have hundreds of movies...thanks for that. But I would like to have only a few special types of these films so that I can neither do injustice to my acting nor forget stage and painting.

I asked,

• ‘Would you like to tell us how you came into plays and films?’

‘Yes, I would like to.’ Amol Palekar replied smilingly, ‘My wife is Anupama Palekar. Once he introduced me to Satyadev Dubey, a popular stage artist. He liked me. Some discussions took place and he kept me with him, that is, he entrusted me with the responsibility of all the arrangements behind the stage. I accepted this job with great pleasure. The work continued. And we're like 'Shut up!' Started preparing for 'Court Chalu Hai'. One day one of the actors of this play went missing, so Satyadev Dubey gave me a chance to act and thus I started working in plays. My acting in 'Aadhe Adhure' was appreciated, I also work in Marathi plays. 'Silent? When 'Court Chalu Hai' was a huge success, Dubey ji planned to make a film on it. So, he decided to cast me in the film too. Meanwhile, the late Raja Thakur allowed me to act as Bidinya, Amol Palekar, and Helen in a Marathi film ‘Bajirao Cha Beta’. It was my good fortune to get a chance to act with a seasoned director like Raja Thakur. And after this Basu Chatterjee selected me for 'Rajni Gandha'. The film was made and released. Some people liked me. And the work continued. More films were also found, out of which one film 'Chhoti-Si Baat' was released recently. This film was also liked. That's it, this is the story of entry into films and plays.

 Saying this, Amol Palekar became silent, but the smile did not disappear from his face. I asked,

• ‘You are also a director of plays; would you like to direct films too?’

Amol Palekar replied,

'I haven't thought about this yet.'

• 'I heard that you are an employee of Bank of India Bombay, now you have become an actor, why don't you leave the service?'

'No, I love my job as much as I love acting and painting. I don't want to leave this work.'

• ‘So, you want to serve art?’

‘No, I am a complete professional. And we can never call ourselves servants of art, because we also earn money from drama and films.

• ‘Do you prefer acting in films or plays?’

Amol Palekar said,

'I don't want to compare the two. The stage has its place and film has its place, there is different pleasure in working at both the places.

The sequence of our conversation seemed a bit broken, so I ended my interview here and took leave from Amol Palekar.

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