As a school kid in the 1980s and early 1990s, whenever the ‘Ek Akela Iss Sheher Mein…’ song from Gharaonda (1977) played on Doordarshan, I would be extremely unimpressed. I used to wonder who this ‘non-hero material’ guy was, completely different from the known and widely accepted heroes like Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Jeetendra, Vinod Khanna, Sunny Deol and Jackie Shroff, listlessly wandering around Bombay’s streets, foot overbridges and seafaces. And I used to think why on earth would someone be searching for ‘sabudana’ of all things. Later when I grew up and developed a more mature taste of films, songs and actors, this very song blew my mind off with its depth. And I learnt that it was ‘aab-o-dana’ (and not ‘sabudana’), broadly referring to food, livelihood, subsistence and the basic necessities of life.
The Uniqueness of Amol Palekar
The man was none other than Amol Palekar, one of the most unique and refreshing faces in Indian cinema who carved a niche for himself in an era dominated by larger-than-life heroes. As the common man’s hero, he brought freshness to films with his natural acting style, simplicity and relatable characters…and became popular for his roles in light-hearted middle-class stories. He gave Indian cinema a very interesting and unconventional narrative that movie heroes don’t necessarily need to be macho…and that they could simply be people like us. He was never a threat for the larger-than-life action and romantic heroes…nor were they for him. It was an era of mutual respect…he respected them, and they respected him back. In fact Amitabh Bachchan (who was considered to be ‘God’ by the masses) even did cameos in a couple of his films.
A Metaphor of Sorts
Over the years, Amol Palekar became a metaphor of sorts. Almost every field has its ‘Amol Palekar’…e.g. Dilip Vengsarkar and Ajinkya Rahane are known as Indian Cricket’s Amol Palekar; Nitish Kumar has often been called the Amol Palekar of Indian Politics; and actor Ayushman Khurana has quite often been referred to as the Amol Palekar of the present times.
I too have some say here. On three occasions in my 25+ years of experience as a Communications Professional, I have been told by three different people in the industry (all of them senior to me and ‘big guys’ in the PR field) that I am the Amol Palekar of the PR industry. And I couldn’t help but feel proud of myself on all of these three occasions.
I have always been an introvert…someone who never generally initiates a conversation; and responds just as much as is required. In fact when I told my sister back in 2000 that I was getting into a PR job, her first reaction was “Public Relations…aur tum?” And I have survived as an introvert and an ‘Unpublic Publicist’ (is what I love to call myself) for 25+ years. I never aspired to be one of the larger-than-life guys (many are; and many pretend to be) in the PR industry…instead I worked towards becoming the ‘simple and reliable’ guy.
But even being an ‘Unpublic Publicist’ and doing things in my own style, I always respected the big and happening guys in the industry…and many of them respected me back. In fact they have even helped me during my tough times.
In a nutshell, I chose to remain the ‘Amol Palekar of the PR industry’. But I never got to see him in flesh and blood, just like Ramprasad nurtured the regret of never getting to see Pele in flesh and blood in Gol Maal (1979).
The PRAXIS 2025 Miss
Ever since PRAXIS commenced in 2012, I have attended 3 summits. Others I have missed for various reasons. But this year’s miss was a big one for me, which I will always regret. I really wanted to attend PRAXIS 2025…because it was being held at Dehradun and I had never been there before. But on account of a health issue, I decided to give it a miss. Later when I came to know that Amol Palekar is going to address a keynote session on ‘The Art & Craft of Good Storytelling in Building Reputation’ at PRAXIS 2025, I was disheartened. It would have been such a good opportunity to meet him in person.
Few days before PRAXIS 2025, I even had a dream of meeting him in person for breakfast at the hotel in Dehradun. We were having a good conversation on parallel cinema in the 1970s and 1980s, and how things are evolving now. I even took his autograph on a copy of ‘Viewfinder’ that I had purchased; and gave him a copy of ‘The Brooding Mind’, a book I recently authored.
Khair…phir kabhi.
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