Amol Palekar Biography

Amol Palekar hails from a Marathi-speaking family of Mumbai and was born on November 24, 1944. He is a well known actor of the 1970s and later a director of notable Hindi and Marathi cinema. He attended the Sir J. J. School of Art.





Palekar began in Marathi experimental theatre with Satyadev Dubey, and he later started his own group, 'Aniket', in 1972. He introduced Theatre of the Absurd to Maharashtra and a street theatre-inspired practice of performing plays in the round.

He made his debut in 1971 with the noted Marathi film Shantata!

In 1974, he was cast as an actor by Basu Chatterjee in Rajnigandha,and a surprise low-budget hit, Chhoti Si Baat, with none of the conventional trappings of Bollywood Cinema. He starred against Vidya Sinha in both the films.His forte was "middle-class" comedies, mostly alternative cinema. These were often directed by Chatterjee or Hrishikesh Mukherjee and include such films as Gol Maal and Naram Garam. He won the Filmfare Best Actor Award for Gol Maal.

He is famous 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), appreciation from his boss, etc.

In his entire career, he has never portrayed a Muslim or a Sikh (though he did portray an Indian Catholic in Baaton Baaton Mein in 1977).

He turned to directing with the Marathi film Aakriet. He showed his capabilities as a director with his movie Paheli starring Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukherji which was India's official entry in the race for Best Foreign Film at the 2006 Oscars. The movie, however, did not make it to the final nominations.

Palekar is also a pianter who has exhibited his sketches, drawings, and paintings in Bombay.