Amol Palekar Turns 82 on November 24, and the Everyday Hero of Hindi Cinema

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Amol Palekar turns 82 on November 24. He was born in Mumbai in 1944 and built a long career in Hindi and Marathi cinema, often playing ordinary people with everyday worries rather than heroes in the traditional sense. He is also known as an artist and painter outside the cinema.

Photo: Bollywood Hungama, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rajnigandha (1974), directed by Basu Chatterjee, is one of the films most closely linked to his name. It is a gentle romance about a woman who has to choose between two men, and it showed the quiet, observational style that would define his work.

Photo: Bollywood Hungama, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Chhoti Si Baat (1975), also directed by Chatterjee, followed a shy young man who finds it hard to tell the woman he likes how he feels. The film is a good example of his natural, unforced acting, and it is still a favourite with fans of the period.

Photo: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Gol Maal (1979), directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, is a comedy about a timid clerk who gets caught in a lie that keeps growing. It shows his gift for physical and verbal comedy, and it is one of the films that many viewers still remember with a smile.

Photo: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

If you want a gentle introduction to his work, start with Chhoti Si Baat for the romance and Gol Maal for the comedy.xxxxx