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Amol Palekar has been busy doing what he loves most: theatre and filmmaking. He has just completed two important tasks. One is the theatre festival he organises every year in Pune, and the other is a film for children. Palekar has always worked at his own pace. He has just finished a theatre festival in Pune that he has been organising for five years.

“I do it without the support of the Government, and it is a very difficult task. It has become like an annual pilgrimage for the people of Pune. It actually started as a homage to stalwarts in the world of theatre. The first one was dedicated to Badal Sircar, the second to Vijay Tendulkar and the third to Ratan Thiyam. The fourth one was to the sangeet-natak tradition of Maharashtra. Many veterans turned up. It was beautiful to see that the youngest in the crowd was 70 years and the oldest, 97 years old!”

Palekar not only traces the journey of the playwright he dedicates the festival to, but also contemporises their old or the latest play to attract the audience. “It is usually a retrospective show with a focus on the progression of the playwright and his plays.”

Not that Palekar could ever disassociate himself from films. He is making a film on Jatin Das, his senior from his art college days, and he has just finished a film called Dum Kata. “It is a children’s film but meant for the whole family. Its story, dialogue and screenplay are penned by Sandhya (his wife) and it is directed by me. It has scintillating music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and its songs are penned by Gulzar. The film would be released in the middle of this year,” says Palekar.

If his admirers miss him on the screen, they will do so in future too, for he doesn’t feel the urge to act again. “I became an actor by accident. Yes, I am a good actor, but a reluctant one. I left acting 17 years ago and I don’t miss it at all,” says Palekar rather unassumingly.

But that doesn’t mean he has stopped watching films. He has been following the field closely. “I loved Johny Gaddar and Laga Chunari Mein Daag. I don’t care for what critics write about the film. What do they write anyway? They write the film’s story and the last paragraph says this or that actor is good or bad. Is it a review?” he challenges.

Palekar finds today’s films technically superior but adds, “In some techno-high films, the story is often missing. Maybe, all this technical razzle-dazzle is to make up for the lack of the story.”

RANA SIDDIQUI

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