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No Paheli, just Chhoti Si Baat
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Amol Palekar and his wife Sandhya converse on Palekar's `Paheli'
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The director has veto powers! AMOL
IDEAL COUPLE Amol Palekar with his wife Sandhya Gokhle Photo: V. Sudershan
His understated ordinariness is of a brand that is almost extinct - in cinema as well as in real life. In an industry full of flamboyance, Amol Palekar has always managed to do the ordinary in such a profound way that it made that moment memorable - both as an actor and as a filmmaker. Which cinema aficionado can forget the lyricism of Thodasa Roomani Ho Jayen or the poignancy of Kairi? Or when he donned the greasepaint in Chhoti Si Baat, Golmaal, Chitchor or Rajnigandha, he made every mother send out a silent prayer that her daughter come home with a guy like that! Or when he made the popular serial Kachchi Dhoop for children, he captured their imagination. His love for the literary word along with the added advantage of being a painter, theatre person and a good kansen - connoisseur of music - has ensured his films breathe with one person's breath.
His latest venture `Paheli,' was released last week. The film's screenplay writer and associate director is Amol's lawyer wife Sandhya Gokhle. With all the covert nakhras of a star wife, she rules the domestic front with all the aggression of her primary profession! Alka Raghuvanshi catches up with the couple.
Amol: I wonder why people have to think in straight lines? So many people keep asking me why an out-and-out commercial film like Paheli?
Sandhya: But few know that the written word holds so much sway over your choice and that most of your films are based on literary works.
Amol: Possibly. The inherent and unfathomable depth of words is so deeply moving for me. I don't make films as per market forces. I have made Paheli with as much passion as Kairi or Thodasa Roomani Ho Jayen and exactly the way I would have made it with or without the star cast.
Sandhya: Do you remember how you discovered this story?
Amol: Of course! But then Bijji (Vijay Dan Detha) is such a wonderful writer and the inherent possibilities of Duvidha, were just crying to be told to a much wider audience. The flavours and smells of his beloved Rajasthan that he is able to capture in his words make a filmmaker's job that much more challenging - however aware you might be of the strength of each medium. For, it is so easy to fall for the cliché!
Sandhya: Bijji's language is so rooted in the soil and the metaphors are so region-specific that I was myself surprised at how it all eventually flowed. And it was so wonderful of him to help us identify locales. Picturing the frames in Shekhawati was so scintillating. It helped put at least my historical perspective in place! And even if I don't particularly like heavy jewellery myself, the specially designed jewels add to the mystique of the tale. There were some tough moments when I was trying to do the screenplay. Besides, it is very difficult to satisfy you!
Amol: Remember, as director I have veto powers!
Sandhya: Very funny! But remember who won after disagreements galore? But I am willing to concede that you are a truly progressive person and you helped me a lot. There were some very tough moments but my being a cinema buff really helped. I love cinema and writing for cinema is the logical creative expression for me.
Amol: It is truly satisfying to see a dream, realise it, visualise it, give it concrete existence incorporating form, texture, space, colour, sound and all this beyond mere technicalities. It is an unspoken relationship of creating a structure where tremendous craft is involved but yet the seams of the craft mustn't show!
Sandhya: But then you always demystify yourself as an actor.
Amol: Sure! While I enjoyed being an actor, I was a reluctant actor, for it was not my dream to be an actor. The day I realised that it was becoming as monotonous as a nine-to-five job, I gave it up.
Mine is not a passion of Van Gogh's kind, yet I have always risked everything. I have always believed in plunging into the unknown or doing something wholeheartedly and passionately, therefore without bothering about norms or calculations. I think a life lived with the aesthetics intact is only worth living. Vaise bhi, chhoti life hai, jee lo, is my mantra.
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