Amol Palekar: Unknown Facts About The Inspirational Filmmaker

Amol Palekar is a Hindi and Marathi cinema actor, director, and producer from India. He made his film debut in the Marathi film Shantata! In 1971, the Court Chalu Aahe.

Also a theatre actor, Amol launched his own theatre group ‘Aniket’ in 1972 and went on to act in several popular plays such as Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe, Hayavadana, and Adhe Adhure.

A recipient of the Filmfare award for his movie ‘Gol Maal’, Amol has also won six state awards. He has also acted in films in various regional languages such as Bengali, Malayalam, and Kannada.

Physical Stats

Amol Palekar Family

Amol was born on 24 November 1944. The actor’s father Kamlakar was employed with the General Post Office and his mother Suhasini Palekar worked in a private company. Amol also has three sisters named Neelon, Rekha, and Unnati.

Relationships

In the 1960s Amol Palekar was introduced to Chitra, a theatre actress and writer by his sister. Slowly they became friends and Amol started accompanying Chitra to the theatre. Soon, they fell in love with each other, and the couple got married in 1969.

After 30 years of marital life, Amol and Chitra got divorced in 2001. In the same year, Amol tied the knot with Sandhya Gokhale, a writer and filmmaker.

Amol has two daughters and Shalmalee, his elder one works as a Professor at the University of Western Australia. The actor’s younger daughter Samiha is a law graduate.

Amol Palekar Education

Amol studied at a boarding school on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border. Later, the actor studied fine arts at the Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai.

Controversies

In June 2023, Amol came out strongly against the tax exemption given by several states to movies such as ‘The Kashmir Files and ‘The Kerala Story’. He also dubbed those movies as propaganda films. It was during an event in Kolhapur that the actor made his statement.

According to Amol, in the past goons used to harass the common public whereas now the government and politics support masked mobs. The actor went on to state that minorities have been terrorized in the last few decades.

Amol Palekar Profession

After completing his studies, Amol worked with various advertisement agencies. However, he later realized that it is not a job cut out for him. During that time, Amol got a job as a clerk with the Bank Of India. From 9 am to 6 pm, he worked with the bank, and post that he worked as a painter.    

Meeting Satyadev Dubey, a theatre director proved to be the turning point in Amol’s life. It was Satyadev who encouraged him to act and thus his first play Chup! Court Chalu Hai happened. Later, in 1974 the renowned film director Basu Chatterjee offered Amol a role in ‘Rajnigandha’ and with that film, the actor made his debut in Hindi.

Rajnigandha was a blockbuster movie and it was followed by ‘Chhoti Si Baat’ and ‘Chit Chor’ which also turned out to be superhits. The other notable Hindi films from Amol include Chitchor, Chhoti Si Baat, and Bhumika. He also acted in several Marathi films such as Tuch Maazi Raani, Mother, and Samaantar.

The Kannada movies from Amol include Kanneshwara Rama and Sringara Masa and he also played the lead role in the Malayalam film ‘Olangal’. Amol made his debut on OTT with the ‘200 – Halla Ho’ – a Hindi ZEE5 film.  

In 1980, Amol became a film director with the Marathi movie ‘Akriet’. His other directorial ventures include Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaayen and Paheli. At the 2006 Oscar Awards, Paheli was nominated as India’s entry for Best Foreign Film.

Amol Palekar Net worth

Amol’s main source of income is from acting in movies. As per sources, his net worth is around $ 5 million.

Lesser Known Facts About Amol Palekar

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