Amol Palekar Archives

40 Years Later, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Gol Maal is Still the Best Film About Middle Class Indians

There is plenty to be admired about Gol Maal beyond its tomfoolery. Foremost of which is the creation of Ram, a male protagonist who despite being pressed by the familiar requirements of earning a living, has a touch of sophistication.

Manik Sharma July 12, 2016

Columns

Rearview: Pulwama Attack & the Difficulty of Being an Amol Palekar in a World of Arnabs

In the backdrop of the Pulwama attack, whose freedom of expression should we be concerned about? We don’t shut down the folks propagating #TerrorismHasAReligion, or journalists who purportedly declared Aligarh Muslim University, a “university of terrorists”. But we shut down people like Amol Palekar.

Karanjeet Kaur June 5, 2016

POV

Bollywood’s a Sellout! Did We Really Need Cobrapost to Tell Us That?

A sting by Cobrapost, Operation Karaoke, set up a fake PR agency that asked Bollywood celebrities to endorse a political party for money. But after a slew of propaganda films and biopics, are we really surprised to learn that the industry is full of actors who are cosily nestled in political pockets?

Kahini Iyer April 19, 2016

Bollywood

Basu Chatterjee, the Master Who Turned Ordinary People Into Temporary Heroes

Cinema creates the illusion that ordinary life requires dramatic, unanticipated twists to turn into a story worth telling. But Basu Chatterjee found a language to argue that stories beyond the strict margins of heroism weren’t lifeless. They were, like our own selves, underrated and overlooked.

Manik Sharma April 15, 2016

Bollywood

How Rajnigandha and Choti Si Baat Gave Us Vidya Sinha, the Original Girl Next Door

As I mourned the passing of Vidya Sinha last Thursday, I couldn’t help but realise that Sinha was an Everyman’s heroine. As Deepa and Prabha in Rajnigandha and Choti Si Baat, two of Basu Chatterjee's classic outings, she oozed femininity that was distinctly Indian while embodying a sort of reckless abandon that was almost postmodern in its emancipation.

Runjhun Noopur April 5, 2016

Bollywood

How to Treat the Trans Community: A Lesson for India from Amol Palekar’s Daayraa

Back in 1996, Amol Palekar’s Daayraa, that revolved around a love story between a transvestite and a gang-raped woman, questioned sexual identities and saw trans people as a “miracle of nature”. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, however, refuses to see the trans community in the same light.

Pranay Dewani March 19, 2016

People

Come for the Moustache, Stay for the Decency: Why Amol Palekar Remains Hindi Cinema’s Wholesome Middle-Class Snacc

In film after film, in Chhoti Si Baat and Baaton Baaton Mein, in the universes of Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, on public transport and in Bandra apartments, Amol Palekar played the man on the street. Who else could essay a white-collar worker with the soul of a poet, who you might meet on a train or a bus, if not him?

Karanjeet Kaur March 14, 2016