BENGALURU: The Hrishikesh Mukherjee film festival commenced in the city with a conversation with actor and director, Amol Palekar. It need not be reminded why Palekar is referred to as 'the boy next door'.
“The only qualification I had in front of all other heroes is - I was never larger than life,” says Palekar.
When asked about his predecessors in parallel cinema, Palekar agreed to him being the first. “I started my Hindi movie career with three silver jublee hits. They were absolute super hits. Then the fourth film I did, I chose to do the villian. The industry was completely shaken up (by now). They asked each other, 'What nonsense is this man doing?' I used to say no to nine out of 10 films. So, I was considered by the industry as some kind of an upstart. I was also the one who broke all the norms and rules of the industry,” he claims.
Palekar wanted to say no to Hrishikesh Mukherjee's first movie offer because he had heard rumours about actors not getting the full script and not having the freedom to hold discussions on his set.
Palekar continued, “I asked him why rehearse when I would just say no to him. He then told me, 'I will give you the full script. I will share everything with you because I know what kind of an actor you are.“”
Hrishikesh Mukherjee did 42 films in 40 years.
When asked Palekar to tell us more about our Hrishikesh Da, he went back to talking about himself, “When we started shooting Golmaal, on the first day, as I started performing, fom the corner of my eye I could see Hrishi Da was not looking at me at all, he was playing chess. I fumbled and the scene got cut.”
Palekar later expressed that Hrishi da was watching everything, and that he “felt so stupid”.
The interaction was organised by Pickle Jar and held at National Gallery of Modern Art, Palace Road.