Hindi filmmakers probably not missing me: Amol Palekar

A craft can get rusty if not practised enough humble words coming from Amol Palekar But the film veteran has his reasons for staying away from acting in movies for more than two decades one being that Hindi filmmakers are perhaps not missing himWhy I am not seen in Hindi films Ask the Hindi filmmakers Probably they are not missing me to be honest Amolu00a0said in an interview during a visit to the capitalBut thats fine absolutely fine If there is someone who comes up with a good role something which will once again excite me by all means Ill do it irrespective of any language as I did when I was acting said the 64yearold actor who is making a comeback as an actor with Marathi movie SamaantarReleasing Sep 4 Samaantar is a tale about two parallel lives crossing each other in the twilight of life The heartwrenching drama has been directed scripted and coproduced by his wife Sandhya Gokhaleu00a0Surprisingly the winner of three Filmfare and six state awards for Best Actor said he had butterflies in his stomach right till the last day of the films shootI had lots of apprehensions for my actingacting is not like swimming or cycling as is said and donethats not true actually A craft if not practised enough gets rusty he saidBut then there were two aspects to it With Sandhya being my codirector my performance was never a tension for me and then having such brilliant coactors including Sharmila Tagore and a wonderful team around me I could easily get away with not really struggling It was a sheer pleasure to act again he addedDistributed by Big Pictures Samaantar Parallel Folds competed at the recent Bollywood amp Beyond Film Festival at Stuttgart Germany Amol has codirected the filmAfter a long time something excited me and inspired me to act I took it as a challenge hoping that I am the best one to take up every nuance of the character and the complete range of emotions in an understated manner I thought I could do it without underlining anything or being melodramatic he explainedEven at the peak of my popularity in Hindi films I have gone out of my way to act in regional cinema I went and acted in Bengali Kannada and did a film in Malayalam because I am a huge fan of Baloo Mahendra So if something like that happens yes I will act again he addedA leading persona of avantgarde theatre in India Amol wowed the audiences for over a decade from 1970 with his boynextdoor image in movies like Rajnigandha 1974 Chhoti Si Baat 1975 Chitchor 1976 Golmaal 1979 and Baton Baton Mein 1979 that carved a niche despite the largerthanlife heroes of that timeAmol quit acting after his 1986 film Baat Ban Jaye to concentrate on filmmaking and theatre He however did a cameo in the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Aks 2001Probed more about his absence from the big screen he said Nothing really excited me nothing was so challenging that came my way and fortunately there was no compulsion that I have to actThere is still no compulsion and this role in Samaantar does not mean that once again Ill open shop and start acting certainly not until something excites me asserted Amol who last made the Marathi Dum Kata 2008Amol has teamed up with his favourite actress Sharmila Tagore in the film The actors are coming together almost after 30 years they shared screen space together in the Bengali film Mother that was released in late 1970sThe actor who is featuring in his own film almost 30 years after his directorial venture Ankahee 1984 was lured into Samaantar by the central character Keshav VazeKeshav is at the pinnacle of his success and professionally a very successful industrialist His days are very hectic with board meetings and all flying in and out but at the end of the day he is a very lonely man and this melancholy amongst the din and hustle bustle is what fascinated me