Veteran actor-filmmaker Amol Palekar says he has always lived life on his own terms and that reflected in his choice of regular guy roles in Hindi cinema at a time when larger-than-life heroes were popular.
Amol, who turned 80 this month, is looking back at his life and artistic pursuits in a new memoir, which is titled ‘Aiwaz’ in Marathi and ‘Viewfinder’ in English. Both the books are published by Westland — ‘Aiwaz’ in partnership with Madhushree Publications.
The book is a deep dive into his life including his unlikely journey in cinema that saw him emerge as the star of the middle-of-the-road cinema of frequent collaborators Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee in hits such as Rajnigandha (1974), Chhoti Si Baat (1976), Chitchor (1976), Gol Maal (1979), Naram Garam (1981) and others in 70s and 80s.
"I was not what a hero is supposed to be and what people loved was precisely that. They loved that I was not a Dharmendra, He-man, I was not the Angry Young Man (Amitabh Bachchan) or the romantic hero Rajesh Khanna. I was also not somebody who could dance beautifully like Jeetendra. I was none of them. And my being none of them was something which people liked," Amol told PTI in an interview.
"I could do it on my own terms is something which I don't know how it happened, but it happened. I am grateful to life for that," he added.
The actor said one of his dilemmas, which also comes through in his book, was how to run away from the image of the star.
"Because the moment you say a star, it comes with its baggage. I was a person who always wanted to try something new and different in which being a star is not allowed. It's a trap, in a way."
Asked if he was ever tempted to turn to commercial cinema, Amol said he has never measured success by box office collection.
