A few decades back, when Amol Palekar was giving the bungling faceless man a little more than just his share of ordinariness on screen, he knew that his posters wouldn’t be up on bedroom walls and he wouldn’t wake up to a legion of screaming fans. “I have always known what I was meant for. I didn’t fit into either the moulds of the angry young man, the dancing hero or the romantic or He-Man heroes. In fact, I never wanted to be any of them,” says Palekar. Call it whim, call it choice, Amol Palekar disappeared from the screen nearly 30 years back. “I have tried not to be driven by the industry. Nothing had really excited me enough to return to the screen. But when I read the story of Samaantar, I decided I had to play Keshav, the protagonist,” he explains at the launch of his Marathi directorial venture Saamantar at Inox (Forum).

On the eve of Samaantar’s release, Palekar acts almost as an ambassador for regional cinema in the country. “I made Samaantar in Marathi because I think every script has its demand of language, actors, music etc. This film could be best-made in Marathi,” says Palekar. “And if you think making the film in Hindi would have meant more reach, better commercial prospects, then you are thinking wrong.” His kind of cinema, explains Palekar, wouldn’t find a mass audience and he is reconciled with the fact. “I wouldn’t put an item number, slapstick comedy to attract more viewers. People who appreciate sensitive cinema would gladly watch a film in Marathi with subtitles. If you can watch Spanish, French, Korean films, why can’t you watch the great cache of good cinema in our own regional languages,” says Palekar. In fact, the actor-director is all for aggressive promotions for regional films. “All these films should be subtitled and get a national exposure,” he adds.

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