Veteran actor-director Amol Palekar with author and columnist Balaji Vittal during The Hindu Lit for Life Dialogue in Bengaluru on Friday. , Photo courtesy: K. Murali Kumar
Hindi and Marathi cinema actor-director Amol Palekar said he cannot connect with the current trend of judging films based on their box office numbers. But I am saying The Hindu The filmmaker, who organized the Life Dialogue at Christ (Deemed University) in Bengaluru, said box office results are not the ultimate yardstick to analyze a film.
“Today, people are curious to know whether a film has joined the ₹100 crore club or not. Pushpa 2 It was in the news for its box office numbers. Why do we focus only on the commercial success of the film? Money is important, but it is not everything when you talk about a work of art,” he said during the session ‘A Life in Cinema’ organized by writer and columnist Balaji Vittal.
“As a filmmaker, I believed in experimenting with subjects. I valued how I executed my ideas and what I achieved with my script,” he said.
In the session, Palekar discussed highlights of his memoirs, Viewfinder: A Memoir. actor of small talk (1975)Chitchor (1976), And chaos (1978)He said that he considers himself an outsider who has made his mark in theater and films.
“I am not a trained actor. For many years, those who made it big in cinema were from the National School of Drama. I was not part of NSD. I didn’t even go to any film institute. This kind of background helped me work with complete freedom. I had no luggage to carry,” he said.
Mr Palekar said filmmakers should offer something new for the current generation. “We have changed as a society. I am not sure whether today’s audience will like the simplicity of the films of the past or not. Today the youth have tremendous experience of films from all over the world. Instead of reviving old memories, we should try to give something new to the audience. We must maintain our Indianness, stay connected to our roots and still try to do something different in cinema,” he explained.
The veteran credited theater greats Sombhu Mitra and Badal Sarkar and filmmakers Basu Chatterjee, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Biplab Roy Chowdhury and Tapan Sinha for his development as an actor. Mr Palekar spoke about how his courage to experiment as an actor helped him carve out a versatile career.
“When I played a villain Role (1976), People felt that this was a big risk. I was a rising hero at that time. However, I wanted to break my boy-next-door image. till in untold (1985), I played a character with gray shades. I am happy that I decided to play different types of characters.
published – December 20, 2024 09:56 PM IST
