The India-Australia match on Saturday was a complete ‘paisa wasool’ for veteran actor, painter, director and producer Amol Palekar, who specially flew down to Bangalore to watch the thrilling game at Chinnaswamy Stadium.
This is not the first time Palekar has visited the city just to witness the Men in Blue at their best.
Back in the 1970s, he would sit in the stands with batsman G R Vishwanath, discussing the nuances of the game and cheering the players.
“Those days are etched in my memory,” said Palekar.
The rest of the weekend was spent celebrating a quite Deepavali with the who’s who of Kannada cinema.
Girish Karnad, Anant Nag and Arundhati Nag to name a few.
Interacting with the media, he recalled the golden days of Bangalore when Brigade Road was a promenade of sorts.
Palekar would walk for hours, witnessing the abstract colours of the city, so diverse, yet together.
“The old Bangalore reminded me of Britain. There was no traffic and the climate was at its best,” he said.
And after so many years, Palekar feels that the city has transformed into a chaotic block, where people don’t even know who their neighbours are.
On cinema
Justifying the ‘masala-fication’ of Indian cinema, Amol Palekar opined that there has been a drastic change in the mindset of people. “Back in the 70s, filmmakers took the liberty of experimenting with parallel cinema because their audience was open to the idea. But now, filmmakers don’t want to take that risk as their audience is not open to off-beat films.
They want their dose of song and dance routines. The commercial aspect has grown bigger,” he explained.
As an after thought, he cited examples of theatres like Akashvani in Mumbai that still play short films and documentaries on issues plaguing the society today.
“These have survived commercialisation,” he added.
Commenting on the current trend of skimpily clad women shaking a leg to woo the masses he said that item songs are agreeable only if they are part of the script.
Palekar, in the past few years, has made a name for himself in regional circles. And further, he feels that the reason for vernacular films failing to make a mark is that filmmakers look down upon their own work.
“Some great movies have been scripted by regional filmmakers. But the reason many don’t know about them is that there is no proper platform to highlight them.
Regional directors should not compete with blockbusters but instead concentrate on creating an impact through their stories,” he said.
A different journey
For Palekar, painting is an inward journey of the self where the learning never stops, whereas performing arts is an outward journey which involves other people as well.
He has plans of taking a break from cinema and wants to pick up the paint brush again. With no plans of starting an art school as of now, Palekar wants to exhibit his thoughts through his art work in the near future. “My guru gave me
full freedom when it came to learning. I am ready to share what I have learnt with anyone who is interested,” he said.
Despite outlining an alternate career, he says he is open to the idea of acting and directing Kannada films. “But it depends. If I like the script, then why not,” he adds.