Amol Palekar

Amol Palekar
Amol Palekar
	Amol in 2016
Born	24 November 1944 (age 80); Bombay, Bombay Province, British India
Occupations	Actor; director; singer;
Years active	1971–present
Spouses	; Chitra Palekar (m. 1969; div. 2001) ; Sandhya Gokhale (m. 2001)
Parents	Kamalakar Palekar (father); Suhasini Palekar (mother);
Awards	Filmfare Best Actor Award:; 1979: Gol Maal
Website	amolpalekar.com
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Amol Palekar (born 24 November 1944) is an Indian actor, director and producer of Hindi and Marathi cinema.^[3]

Quick Facts Born, Occupations ...

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Palekar was born to Kamlakar and Suhasini Palekar in a Marathi speaking middle-class family in Mumbai. He had three sisters called Neelon, Rekha and Unnati. His father worked in the General Post Office and his mother worked in a private company.^[4] Palekar studied fine arts at the Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai, and commenced his artistic career as a painter. As a painter, he had seven one-man exhibitions and participated in many group shows.^[5]

Although he trained in fine arts, Palekar is better known as a stage and film actor. He has been active in the avant garde theatre in India in Marathi and Hindi theatre as an actor, director and producer since 1967. His contribution to the modern Indian theatre is often overshadowed by his popularity as a lead actor in Hindi films.

As a film actor, he was most prominent in the 1970s. His image as a "boy next door" contrasted with the larger-than-life heroes prevalent at that time in Indian cinema. He received three Filmfare Awards and six State awards as Best Actor. His performances in regional language films in Marathi, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada fetched him critical acclaim as well. He decided not to act after 1986 in order to concentrate on filmmaking.

As a director, he is known for the sensitive portrayal of women, selection of classic stories from Indian literature, and perceptive handling of progressive issues. He has directed several television serials on the national network such as Kachchi Dhoop, Mrignayani, Naquab, Paool Khuna and Krishna Kali.

Theatre career

Palekar began in Marathi experimental theatre with Satyadev Dubey, and later started his own group, Aniket, in 1972. As a theatre actor, he was part of popular plays like Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe, Hayavadana and Adhe Adhure.^[6] Following a performance on stage at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (India) (NCPA) in 1994, he returned to theatre after a gap of 25 years with the suspenseful play, Kusur (The Mistake).^[7] This play is directed by him and he also plays the lead role.^[8]

Movie career

Palekar made his debut in 1971 with the Marathi film Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe directed by Satyadev Dubey, which started the New Cinema Movement in Marathi.^[9] In 1974 he was cast as an actor by Basu Chatterjee in Rajnigandha, and in the surprise low-budget hit, Chhoti Si Baat. This led to many other such roles in "middle-class" comedies, mostly alternative. These were mostly directed by Chatterjee or Hrishikesh Mukherjee and included films such as Gol Maal and Naram Garam. He won the Filmfare Best Actor Award for Gol Maal.

He is noted for his image of the "middle-class everyman" who struggles to get a job (Gol Maal), his own flat (Gharonda), a girlfriend/wife (Baaton Baaton Mein), and appreciation from his boss.

In 1979, he was paired with a sixteen-year-old Sridevi in Solva Saawan, which was her debut Hindi movie as a heroine. Amol played the role of an intellectually disabled man, a character played by Kamal Haasan in the original Tamil movie.

In 1982 he played the role of Ravi in the Malayalam movie Olangal. He turned to directing with the Marathi film Aakriet. He showed his capabilities as a director with movies such as Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaayen and Paheli. Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaayen has become a part of management courses and study pertaining to human behaviour.^[10] Paheli was India's official entry for Best Foreign Film at the 2006 Oscars. The movie, however, did not make it to the final nominations.

He has also given his voice to an HIV/AIDS education animated software tutorial created by the nonprofit organization TeachAids.^[11] He is willing to act once again if he is given a challenging role.^[12]

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He married Sandhya Gokhale after his divorce from his first wife, Chitra.^[13]^[14]^[2] Palekar regards himself as an agnostic atheist.^[15]

In February 2022, Palekar was hospitalized in Pune for COVID-19 related complications.^[16]

As an actor

More information Year, Film ...

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1969	Bajiraocha Beta		Marathi film
1971	Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe		Marathi film
1974	Rajnigandha	Sanjay
1975	Jeevana Jyoti	Sanjay	Telugu film
1976	Chhoti Si Baat	Arun Pradeep	Nominated: Filmfare Award for Best Actor
1976	Chitchor	Vinod
1977	Gharaonda	Sudip
	Bhumika	Keshav Dalvi	Won: Filmfare Special Performance Award^[17]
	Agar... If	Anil Aggarwal
	Taxi Taxie	Dev/Hero
	Tuch Maazi Raani		Marathi film
	Kanneshwara Rama	Chenneera	Kannada film
1978	Damaad	Sharad Mazgaonkar
1978	Safed Jhoot	Amol 'Ramu' Palekar
1979	Baaton Baaton Mein	Tony Braganza
	Gol Maal	Ram Prasad Sharma / Lakshman Prasad Sharma (Lucky)	Won: Filmfare Award for Best Actor
	Do Ladke Dono Kadke	Hari
	Meri Biwi Ki Shaadi	Bhagwant Kumar Bartendu "Bhagu"
	Solva Sawan
	Bin Baap Ka Beta
	Mother		Marathi film
	Jeena Yahan	Dinesh
1980	Aanchal	Kishan Lal
1980	Apne Paraye	Chandranath
1981	Naram Garam	Ram Eshwar Prasad
	Sameera
	Akriet	Mukutrao Shinde	Marathi film won: Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Marathi
	Kalankini		Bengali film
	Agni Pareeksha	Alok Choudhary / Ramesh Khanna
	Chehre Pe Chehra	Peter
	Plot No. 5
1982	Jeevan Dhaara	Anand Bhatnagar
	Olangal	Ravi Chattan	Malayalam film
	Ramnagari
	Spandan
	Shriman Shrimati	Madhu Gupta
1983	Rang Birangi	Ajay Sharma
	Ashray
	Pyaasi Aankhen
	Chena Achena		Bengali film
1984	Tarang	Rahul
	Aadmi Aur Aurat	Tapan Sinha	TV movie
	Prarthana
	Sringara Masa		Kannada film
	Mr. X	Amar	Voice dubbed by other artist
1985	Khamosh	Amol Palekar
	Jhoothi	Inspector Kamal Nath
	Ankahee	Devkinandan Chaturvedi 'Nandu'
	Abasheshe		Bengali film
1986	Baat Ban Jaye	Yeshwant Rao Bhonsle
1994	Teesra Kaun?	C. K. Kadam
2001	Aks	The Defence Minister
2009	Samaantar	Keshav Vaze	Marathi film
2021	200 – Halla Ho	Justice Vitthal Daangle	Hindi ZEE5 film
2023	Gulmohar	Sudhakar Batra	Disney+Hotstarfilm

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As a director

Aakreit (Unimaginable in Marathi) – 1981
Ankahee (Unspoken) – 1985
Thodasa Rumani Ho Jaye – 1990
Bangarwadi – 1995
Daayraa (The Square Circle) – 1996
Anahat (Forever)
Kairee (Raw mango) – 2001
Dhyaas Parva (Kal Kaa Aadmi in Hindi) – 2001 (based on Raghunath Karve's life, won the National Award for Best Film on Family Welfare)^[18]
Paheli (Riddle) – 2005 (India's official entry to the 78th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film)
Quest (English) – 2006 (won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English)
Dumkata (2007)
Samaantar (Marathi) – 2009
...And Once Again – 2010
Dhoosar (Marathi) – 2011 (won the Maharashtra State Film Award)

Feature films in other regional languages

Mother (Bengali) (with Sharmila Tagore & Dipankar Dey)
Kalankini (Bengali) (with Mamata Shankar – directed by Dhiren Ganguly)
Chena Achena (Bengali) (with Tanuja & Soumitra Chatterjee)
Kanneshwara Rama (Kannada) (with Anant Nag & Shabana Azmi – directed by M.S. Sathyu)
Paper Boats (Kannada & English) (with Deepa – directed by Pattabhirama Reddy)
Olangal (Malayalam) (with Poornima Jayaram & Ambika – directed by Balu Mahendra)

TV serials

Kachchi Dhoop – 1987
Naqab – 1988
Paoolkhuna – 1993
Mrignayanee – 1991
Kareena Kareena – 2004
AA Bail Mujhe Maar – 1987
Ek Nayi Ummeed-Roshni – 2015

Web series

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2023	Farzi	Madhav (Nanu)	^[19]
TBA	Gormint †	TBA	^[19]

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More information Award, Film ...

Award	Film	Year	Status
National Film Awards
Best Feature Film in Marathi	Bangarwadi	1995	Won
Special Jury Award (Feature Film)	Daayraa	1996	Won
Best Film on Other Social Issues	Kairee	1999	Won
Best Film on Family Welfare	Dhyaas Parva	2000	Won
Best Feature Film in English	Quest	2006	Won
Filmfare Awards
Best Actor	Chhoti Si Baat	1977	Nominated
Best Actor	Gol Maal	1980	Won
Filmfare Marathi Awards
Best Actor	Akriet	1981	Won

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lokesh

[1]
"'आपल्यातीलच एक' थोडासा रुमानी झाला तेव्हा A correct reference about his birthday from marathi language newspaper loksatta news, janeman is confirmed person with him to be 24 November, 2014 during Marathi language wikipedia workshop". Archived from the original on 20 June 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
[2]
"Amol Palekar: Baaton Baaton Mein". The Times of India. 19 October 2003. Archived from the original on 13 September 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
[3]
"Paheli is a simple, loveable film". Rediff.com. 21 June 2005. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
[4]
"Amol Palekar: Baaton Baaton Mein - The Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 13 September 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
[5]
"Painting is like 'ghar wapsi' for me: Amol Palekar". FilmyKeeday. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
[6]
Sharma, Devesh (27 March 2020). "Top Bollywood actors who started life on stage". filmfare.com. Archived from the original on 29 March 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
[7]
Singh, Deepali (14 December 2019). "Palekar's latest challenge". Livemint. Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
[8]
"Theatre review: Kusur (The Mistake) - Times of India". The Times of India. 29 November 2019. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
[9]
"Amol Palekar's debut". The Times of India. 4 May 2013. Archived from the original on 20 December 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
[10]
"Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jaaye : Movie Review | kanikaspeaks". Archived from the original on 11 April 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
[11]
"Star touch to animated film on HIV/AIDS". The New Indian Express. 27 November 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2010.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
[12]
"Amol Palekar: Can return to screen if role is challenging". 17 November 2013. NDTV. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
[13]
Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
[14]
"Amol Palekar is back in action, this time with an English language ..." The Indian Express. 2 August 2010. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
[15]
"Atheism is the religion for these filmi folk". The Times of India. The Times Group. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
[16]
"Veteran actor Amol Palekar hospitalized due to Covid complications". Tribune India. 11 February 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
[17]
"The Times of India directory and year book including who's who 1984".
[18]
"Focus". pib.nic.in. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
[19]
"Shahid Kapoor calls Amol Palekar 'OG middle class good guy', says: 'It was a privilege to have him on Farzi'". Hindustan Times. 5 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.

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Amol Palekar at IMDb

[1] [1]
"'आपल्यातीलच एक' थोडासा रुमानी झाला तेव्हा A correct reference about his birthday from marathi language newspaper loksatta news, janeman is confirmed person with him to be 24 November, 2014 during Marathi language wikipedia workshop". Archived from the original on 20 June 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2012.

[times_baaton-2] [2]
"Amol Palekar: Baaton Baaton Mein". The Times of India. 19 October 2003. Archived from the original on 13 September 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2010.

[3] [3]
"Paheli is a simple, loveable film". Rediff.com. 21 June 2005. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2012.

[4] [4]
"Amol Palekar: Baaton Baaton Mein - The Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 13 September 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2010.

[5] [5]
"Painting is like 'ghar wapsi' for me: Amol Palekar". FilmyKeeday. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2016.

[6] [6]
Sharma, Devesh (27 March 2020). "Top Bollywood actors who started life on stage". filmfare.com. Archived from the original on 29 March 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.

[7] [7]
Singh, Deepali (14 December 2019). "Palekar's latest challenge". Livemint. Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2020.

[8] [8]
"Theatre review: Kusur (The Mistake) - Times of India". The Times of India. 29 November 2019. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.

[9] [9]
"Amol Palekar's debut". The Times of India. 4 May 2013. Archived from the original on 20 December 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2016.

[10] [10]
"Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jaaye : Movie Review | kanikaspeaks". Archived from the original on 11 April 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2015.

[11] [11]
"Star touch to animated film on HIV/AIDS". The New Indian Express. 27 November 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2010.^{[permanent dead link‍]}

[12] [12]
"Amol Palekar: Can return to screen if role is challenging". 17 November 2013. NDTV. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2013.

[13] [13]
Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine.

[14] [14]
"Amol Palekar is back in action, this time with an English language ..." The Indian Express. 2 August 2010. Retrieved 13 August 2010.

[15] [15]
"Atheism is the religion for these filmi folk". The Times of India. The Times Group. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2015.

[16] [16]
"Veteran actor Amol Palekar hospitalized due to Covid complications". Tribune India. 11 February 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2022.

[17] [17]
"The Times of India directory and year book including who's who 1984".

[18] [18]
"Focus". pib.nic.in. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 26 July 2015.

[farzi-19] [19]
"Shahid Kapoor calls Amol Palekar 'OG middle class good guy', says: 'It was a privilege to have him on Farzi'". Hindustan Times. 5 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.

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