Voice of dissent not being liked, isn’t that censorship, asks thespian Amol Palekar

Censorship, which until now was directed only at the artist community has now become everyone’s concern, says veteran actor Amol Palekar.
Veteran actor-director Amol Palekar at a press meet in Bengaluru on Saturday | Shriram B N
Veteran actor-director Amol Palekar at a press meet in Bengaluru on Saturday | Shriram B N

BENGALURU: Censorship, which until now was directed only at the artist community has now become everyone’s concern, says veteran actor Amol Palekar.“When you see a voice being muzzled, somebody not being allowed to speak, a voice of dissent not being liked, isn’t that censorship? Why are we all not all fighting against it? Why do we only expect some artist to fight against censorship? Isn’t this our own problem which has come to our homes?” Amol Palekar said here on Saturday ahead of his return to theatre with a new play.

Palekar also spoke about an Uber driver in Mumbai recently handing a passenger over to the police over him being a communist and should be therefore arrested. “Uber sacked the driver but was felicitated by BJP. I get disturbed by the fact that despite all this we sit at a distance and ask why we fight against censorship.”After a gap of after 25 years, Palekar is set to act in Kusur, which will be performed on Sunday at Chowdiah Memorial Hall. Palekar plays a 75-year-old retired cop who finds himself helping callers in a police control room.

Adapted from the Danish thriller Den Skylidge, Kusur is directed by Palekar and his wife and long-term collaborator Sandhya Gokhale. “I try to make a character as non-obtrusive as possible. I don’t want Amol Palekar to be remembered. I want the character to be remembered,” Palekar says. Palekar told TNSE that it was tough to theatre at the age of 75. “It is probably more difficult than tough for two reasons - one being my age to retain physical and emotional energy and to perform is something very demanding. It is also tough because a gap of 25 years is massive, it took quite an effort for me to brush away the rust,” says Palekar.

Talking about the various art forms he has engaged in, Palekar, said “I was really fortunate to be one of the few who could keep doing these three (theatre, films, painting) simultaneously. Today, I can say that primarily I’m a painter and only that. Going back to my second love, theatre is till I do 25 performances and that’s it. In films, the exciting possibility is always there that something different and very challenging comes my way. With Sandhya being around, that possibility is very prominent.”

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