As veteran actor Amol Palekar returns to stage after 25 years, he speaks of his three-point guide to picking new projects
Vinaya Patil (MID-DAY; November 17, 2019)

It is the thrill of doing something "totally new" that has pushed Amol Palekar to give us all the beautiful movies that he has. His new play, Kusur – The Mistake, is no different. Written and co-directed by Sandhya Gokhale, the play is a social thriller, and "an experiment never seen before," according to her.

The play, an adaptation of Danish film Den Skyldige, sees Palekar's return to the stage after 25 years. It will be first staged at NCPA on November 24, the day Palekar turns 75. He plays the role of an ACP which is "extremely challenging, physically and emotionally, especially at this age," Palekar says, adding that even as the play is a thriller, it can be categorised into a niche socio-political genre. "In India, when you say political, one only imagines party politics. But that's not what this play is about; it has several layers to it that can open up to multiple issues," he explains, seated in his home-turned-studio in a quiet lane on Pune's Prabhat Road.

On what made him end his stage hiatus, Palekar says, "I am an actor by accident and director by choice. I hadn't acted in years. The reasons are many. Once I know that I have had a successful project—personally and for the audience—my interest in it vanishes. I, then, want to do something different. People love and respect me, which is overwhelming. I, therefore, believe that I owe them something, and this was my best possible chance—an extremely challenging script. It is nothing close to what I have done in the past."

But, even for the talented artiste, "unknown territory is always scary, especially when you are successful." It is his formative theatre days that have taught him to do it. Has it ever failed, his attempt at experimenting? "Very rarely, perhaps a couple of times: once with the 2013 Marathi movie Houn Jau Dya that I directed and with a French classic adaptation," he says. The couple of failures though were far too less in comparison with the numerous hits that the actor has delivered over the decades—from Chhoti Si Baat and Ankahee to Bhumika, Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaye and Apne Paraye.

What Then Does He Look At In The Projects He Chooses?
Three things. "It has to offer something new, to me and to the audience. It has to say something about contemporary spaces, and very importantly, if it is not a progressive thought, it must at least not be a regressive one," says the man who insists that he "acts with conviction". And in that case, he does not want to take up something regressive and present it convincingly. That is "supremely dangerous."

Which brings us to his idea of contemporary spaces and standing up for the right causes. Palekar, who has more often than not challenged the establishment, says he is not against parties but against "atrocities committed by the establishment." From speaking against The Emergency to protesting the government's idea of censorship, he says he must be the "only man to have protested the maximum number of governments—Congress, BJP, Janta Dal and more."

On the current state of cinema, Palekar says the scene in India is once again where it was during the Renaissance period of the early 1970s. "We are once again making some path-breaking cinema, regional cinema is rising yet again, and movies are going beyond pure entertainment." The one disappointing bit though, for him with regard to regional cinema vis-à-vis Bollywood, is that the latter has trained us to look at art from an extremely commercial point of view. Citing an example of the Marathi hit Sairat, Palekar says that all that was spoken about the movie was its crossing the Rs 100-crore mark. "[Nagraj] Manjule has done some phenomenal work with that movie. It is his filmmaking that has turned a simple story into beauty. But no one spoke about that," he sighs, hoping that the way we look at art and cinema evolves for the better, sooner than later.

Legendary actor Amol Palekar on why he’s returning to stage, 25 years on, with Kusur, a play based on a Danish film adapted by his wife Sandhya Gokhale
Sanchita Das (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 17, 2019)

Come November 24, a veteran thespian will take the stage he quit 25 years ago. With this, he says, he will be flagging off his last round of performances. The date holds special meaning to Amol Palekar, who turns 75 on that day. So does the venue — National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), at Nariman Point — the place he’d performed last at (in Kala Wazir Pandhra Raja).

Palekar’s life appears to have come full circle. He completed another such cycle when he turned 70, by going back to the artform he first favoured — painting. He celebrated his return to the easel with a solo exhibition after a gap of 30 years. But unlike his continued engagement with the canvas, Palekar is very categorical that Kusur — the play he is set to perform in — will not reboot his acting career. “I’ve already said that I will not take this play beyond 25 shows,” he says, “I don’t know whether I will have the fitness, energy and emotional strength to go on performing beyond this.” He also doesn’t want to limit his performances to the metros this time. “I will explore new grounds such as Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and smaller towns — to reach as many people as possible.”

The present exercise, he says, is homage to his followers who’ve been coaxing him to return to acting for a long time. “The kind of love and adulation I continue to enjoy, despite quitting the scene 25 years ago, and the continuous coaxing to perform, is really overwhelming,” he says. “I felt I owed my admirers one last showcasing of my talent or skills, however you may wish to put it. It had to be a show-stopper and I did not find a proper vehicle to do this, until Sandhya’s script threw out this challenge.”

Kusur is his wife Sandhya Gokhale’s adaptation of Danish film, Den Skyldige, and it’s being produced by BookMyShow. Gokhale says the script was the culmination of a long search for material that might appeal to her husband, who’d turned a reluctant actor. “I had heard him say ‘no’ just too many times,” she recounts. “He doesn’t like to do anything that does not challenge him. I was looking for a play but I am not a theatre person and I don’t take to theatre scripts. I prefer to draw my inspiration from literature and novels. When I saw this film, I thought — now here is some drama that lends itself to theatre. But nothing in the film could be associated with in the Indian context.”

“After I was done with the adaptation, I read it to Amol and he actually liked it. He demanded no changes and that is something, after my experience of scripting eight of his films. Once the script was ready, after some fine-tuning, I sent it to the original screenplay writers, and they too commended it. Adaptation is a tricky train where one cannot be truthful to the original piece of art, but when the original authors approve, it is very fulfilling.”

Palekar, who is co-directing the play with her, finds the script he is working with challenging on multiple levels. “It is terribly taxing, both physically and emotionally, and I hope, I can deliver on it,” he tells Mirror.

Palekar believes the play will afford an opportunity to present his craft — one that has been honed by observing some of the country’s doyens in theatre, primary among them being his mentor Satyadev Dubey. Palekar, who prefers to call himself an “accidental actor”, would hang around Dubey’s theatre group those days, as he was dating Chitra (now, Palekar’s ex-wife). Dubey offered him a role, with the disclaimer that he had not spotted any talent in the young man, but had simply observed that he had a lot of time to spare.

This uncharted career path got him out of the clerical bank job he’d taken on for subsistence, while he experimented with his creative outings. Dubey, who had sculpted the theatre career of many luminaries, exposed him to various theatre forms. “Back then, Dubey was networking with theatre movements across the country. Thanks to him, I got to sit in on sessions where people such as Badal Sircar, Mohan Rakesh, Vijay Tendulkar, Girish Karnad and Dubey hobnobbed and exchanged notes. It opened up new vistas for me,” he recalls wistfully.

Dubey, he says, did not hold back when it came to sharing his craft. Most important was the nuanced exposure he ensured Palekar got. “He made me go watch Kolkata’s Shyamanand Jalan perform Badal Sircar’s Evam Indrajit. It was so removed from the realistic Marathi theatre (which remains so to date) in its abstract and yet eloquent form. Then I saw Dubey’s interpretation of the same play, which, without any change to the script, managed to change the very protagonist of the play. While Jalan had made the playwright central to the play, in Dubey’s version, Indrajit’s was the pivotal role. This triggered a creative surge in me,” he reminiscences.

Palekar who went on to become a face of India’s parallel cinema, working with Basu Chatterjee (who drew him into the cinematic fold), Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Tapan Sinha, Shyam Benegal among others, points out that this body of work was done during what he considers the cultural renaissance period of the country. “The ecosystem was such that I could indulge in all three of my creative endeavours — painting, theatre and movies — between 1967 and 1984,” he says. He rules out, however, that this coming full circle will translate into a return to cinema, as he reiterates his resolve to take on commitments commensurate with his age and energy levels.

Along with his sketches, self-portraits and other artworks on a sideboard in his studio, sits a group photograph of Palekar flanked by three of his most popular costars — Zarina Wahab, Bindya Goswami and the late Vidya Sinha. All three are holding up portraits of themselves that were made by Palekar. The picture was taken five years ago during that solo exhibition to celebrate his turning 70, Palekar says.

The artist-actor-director who has been unabashedly vocal about his political views right through his career, says that the present day scenario is one of the most oppressive times he’s lived through. “Dissent was not deemed a crime even during Emergency,” adds the actor. “Today, even if we share an opinion with our friends on social media, we can be labelled secessionists,” he says, recalling the ignominy he suffered at National Gallery of Modern Art earlier this year. At that event, Palekar was repeatedly interrupted and asked to wind up his speech, when he spoke against the dissolution of the advisory committee of local artists that used to guide the gallery on exhibitions and events.

Both, Gokhale and he have made it clear that they resent the censorship theatre is subjected to in Maharashtra and Gujarat. “This is unconstitutional. When I can stage a play unfettered everywhere else, why not in these two states. We are fighting the matter in court, but at the same time, have passed Kusur’s script by the monitoring body — ironic as that may be,” Palekar scoffs.

He remains determined. Palekar, whose parents had never restrained him from pursuing his dreams — their lower middleclass station notwithstanding — says that he will continue to protest, question and criticise, unmindful of the circumstances.