CASTE, A LONG SHADOW

It was all of 55 years ago that Amol Palekar first graced the big screen in Satyadev Dubey’s acclaimed Marathi film, Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe. Though the actor-director, a Sir JJ School of Art graduate, has kept busy painting in recent years, he is now back on screen with the Zee5 film 200 – Halla Ho.

- Karishma Upadhyay

AMOL PALEKAR returns to the screen playing a retired Dalit judge in the Zee5 film 200 - Halla Ho

This is your first film in over two decades. What kept you away?

Even in my heyday, I was not keen on doing every role that was offered to me. I pursued roles only if they challenged me as an actor. My last acting stint was in Khamosh in 1986 after which I never acted in films, barring Samaantar (2009). If a role of ‘someone’s father’ with no other layers is offered to me for even a million dollars, I wouldn’t do it.

Q. What was it about 200 – Halla Ho that made you want to be a part of it?

In Indian cinema, issues of caste have remained invisible, barring a few exceptions like Achhut Kanya (1936), Sujata (1959), Ankur (1974), Fandry (2013) and