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Amol Palekar: A Life Less Ordinary
The only thing I remember of my first brush with Amol Palekar is my petulant outburst one April evening. At that time it seemed completely justified. It was the final day of annual examinations for Second Standard, Kendriya Vidyalaya. And that morning while boarding the bus to school I noticed the wall of the chaiwallah at the bus stop carrying a simple handwritten poster which read “Laawaris: Amitabh”. Normally, this was the most awaited routine where a discarded aircraft hangar would turn into a movie hall every Friday in our town. The buzz through the day was of electrifying and we all bided our time to the big evening. What greater pleasure than starting the 2 month long summer vacation with an Amitabh movie?
And then the last moment slip between the cup and the lip (or as Robert Burns almost stole the words from my lips “The best-laid plans of mice and men / Go oft awry”). The cinemawallah hadn’t been able to source the Laawaris film reel and instead got us “Naram Garam”. A quick question to a friendly uncle in the crowd revealed that the hero was someone called Amol Palekar. I left the hall in tears and added Amol Palekar to my list of killjoys which was then headed by Dilawar (Amjad Khan) who had done the unthinkable in Muqaddar ka Sikandar.
After all, what kind of name is Amol Palekar for a hero? It almost seemed like the name of a school teacher – someone not to be trusted with serious stuff like Mathematics or Physics, possibly SUPW or something of that ilk.
So much for the first brush with Amol Palekar! And brush is quite the apposite word for Amol Palekar, the painter, who graduated from J.J. School of Arts, Bombay. Amol Palekar is a man of many parts – celebrated director of sensible cinema, Marathi theatre veteran and the lovable simpleton hero of the 70s middle-of-the-road cinema (so called since aisi pictures ka producer sadak ke beech aa jaata tha). Amol Palekar grew up in a Marathi household where his sensibilities where shaped by two strong women, his mother and his elder sister. His introverted nature as a child worried his family. As a remedy, he was sent off to a boarding school nestled in the Western Ghats on the outskirts of Mumbai. Palekar acknowledges that this stint opened his world to team sports, literature and school plays which would form the foundation for his cinematic efforts in later life. After his stint at JJ, Palekar dabbled in Marathi theatre and in 1974, Basu Chatterjee approached him with Rajinigandha. It is here Palekar created the persona that almost defined his acting career, that of Sanjay, an educated and aware mid-level business executive, with an inner circle of friends who likes his movies, sports, office intrigues and occasional digs at his boss. This is a character he reprised in different movies with refreshing élan especially with Basu Chatterjee (Chhoti Si Baat, Baaton Baaton Mein, Chitchor, Safed Jhoot) and Hrishikesh Mukherjee (Golmaal, Naram Garam, Rang Birangi).
Gol Maal represented the acme of this genre of movie-making with a watertight plot, superb cameos (Keshto Mukherjee, Dina Pathak, Shubha Khote and Om Prakash) and some of the funniest lines written in Hindi cinema. In this almost Wodehousian farce, Amol Palekar brings to life that lovable Wodehouse goof Psmith in the form of Ram Prasad Dashrath Prasad Sharma and his imaginary twin Lakshman Prasad. But the film really rests on the irrepressible chemistry between Utpal Dutt and Amol Palekar. Sample that amazing interview scene where the two of them come together the first time in the movie where Utpal Dutt asks about Black Pearl ‘Pele’ and Amol Palekar waxes eloquent about the “mahaan aadmi” Professor Rele and his “shodh granth” on Per Capita Income of the Backward Tribes of Maharashtra. When asked about the reason for his short kurtas, he answers in shudh Hindi, “Mere Pitaji kaha karte thae ki kurta to shareer ke uprarth ke lajja niwaaran ke liye hota hai”. Or when his cover is blown up later in the movie and he seeks forgiveness, “Mujhe maaf kar dijiye sir”, to which Utpal Dutt retorts, “Maaf, mein tumhe saaf kar doonga”.
While these easy-going roles almost restricted his growth as an actor, Amol Palekar did show his versatility in sensitive portrayals like in Bhimsain’s Gharonda or the villainous turn that he did for Benegal’s Bhoomika. Based on Marathi actress Hansa Wadkar’s life story, Bhoomika gave Amol Palekar an opportunity to revel in a role that required an innocent façade to an essentially depraved character. Years later, in an interview, Amol Palekar mentioned that while everyone loved his Ram Prasad screen image, his friends knew that in reality he was closer to Keshav of Bhoomika.
Unfortunately, by mid 80s, there were fewer roles for an actor of his caliber and his favorite directors (Basu and Hrishikesh) had started witnessing a decline in their careers too. The cinema hall wasn’t a middle class entertainment haunt anymore and Amol Palekar faded away as an actor after being seen in Vinod Chopra’s whodunit Khamosh and Bharat Rangachary’s Baat Ban Jaaye.
While his acting career was coming to a close, Amol Palekar started getting interested in working behind the camera. He has often gone on record stating he was an actor by accident and direction is what comes naturally to him. The painter’s sensitivity, his theatre background and the deep influences of strong women in his family were strongly seen in his first two directorial venture – the Marathi film Akriet which had a Vijay Tendulkar screenplay and Ankahee. This was further reinforced in his third directorial venture, the lyrical “Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jaaye” (1990) with Nana Patekar playing a literal Rainmaker to repressed hopes and dreams of Anita Kanwar. Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jaaye, like a true fable, had an overt storyline of drought, beyond-the-marriageable-age daughter and a loving father while the underlying philosophical tale was of keeping your faith in the face of odds. The lyricism was that of song of hope rather than a requiem for a dream. In between his second and third movie, Amol Palekar was one of the first mainstream directors to adopt Television as a medium and that resulted in one of my sweetest childhood memories “Kachchi Dhoop”. This TV series, written by Chitra Palekar and directed by Amol, was based on Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and achingly summed up the pangs of adolescence – the first flush of love, sibling rivalry, jealousy and sacrifice. Amol Palekar drew out some of the finest performances from child artists and what a stellar line up we had starting with Bhagyashree, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Shyamalee and Sai Deodhar. Palekar would again show his felicity in handling childhood stories and child artists in his later directorial venture Kairee (Raw Mango).
Since then Amol Palekar, the director, has carved a niche for himself with his trilogy of movies dealing with sexuality and man-woman relations – the much feted Daayra (the square peg in a round hole story), Anaahat (10th century BC saga) and the disappointing Quest released last year on same sex relations. In between he directed Paheli for Shah Rukh Khan’s production house. A movie that had a lot to recommend for itself but the star cast of Shah Rukh, Rani and Amitabh (Juhi and Suniel Shetty also thrown in) possibly precluded Amol Palekar from being truly experimental with what was a progressive folk lore. I don’t remember seeing him in too many movies except for an odd Aks and that other trite whodunit Teesra Kaun almost a decade ago. Partho Ghosh, riding on the success of Dalaal directed Teesra Kaun? where Mithun played himself (that is God and Actor) and (warning, plot spoiler ahead) Amol Palekar played the uncle of Rituparna Sengupta who gets murdered during a train journey. This wasn’t a Murder on Orient Express so the answer to the rhetorical question Teesra Kaun (it had a title song as well) was Palekar himself.
These days, Palekar surprisingly distances himself from his much loved screen image of the late 70s. He sees himself as a director who accidentally strayed into acting and as he once stated, “he doesn’t miss acting and considering the kind of films made, possibly the world of acting doesn’t miss him as well.” He has strong views on the state of cinema in India today and when once asked will he come back to directing a mainstream film, he retorted, “How can you call it mainstream cinema when 95% of the films flop miserably? What’s mainstream about that?”
As I watched the 31 stars (a lot many duds really) dance to Om Shanti Om in Farah Khan’s tribute to the 70s, I wondered if anyone ever thought of Amol Palekar’s contribution to that era. Farah Khan, keenly aware of Hindi cinema history, had paid tribute to Amol Palekar’s turn in Gol Maal in her first venture “Main Hoon Na” where she named Shah Rukh ‘Ram Prasad Sharma’. While Amitabh’s Angry Young Man defined Hindi cinema of the 70s, Palekar’s Affable Young Man was an equally effective foil of those times. How I wish Farah remembered him? That she didn’t shouldn’t surprise us, it sums up the life and times of Amol Palekar.
36 Responses to “Amol Palekar: A Life Less Ordinary”
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Thanks for the detailed wrap on one of our most underrated and sidelined-by-media actors, Sir. While at a younger age I always thought of him as that boring guy in art films(loved your take on ‘middle-of-the-road!), he is nonetheless a frail milestone in Indian cinema. I guess he has become more vocal off late, through his medium and his statements, much contrasting to his Ram Prasad Sharma image. I would like him to churn more cinema, have never quite liked what he directed till now. Paheli was a bad outing, and I attribute it to bad direction more than any other reasons.
I remember the Tessra Kaun thingy, only you could have refreshed such a bad memory! The ‘train mein safar karti sundar ladki’ bit, the hilarious title song(one of the most innovative and imaginative works of our times!). Loved your inclusion of Kachchi Dhoop and Thoda sa….
On retrospect the one moment where I can’t forget Paalekar the actor is where he transforms from middle-of-the-road to a cocky know-it-all snob(though he could never achieve it to this extent methinks), it was certainly a possibility, looking at Golmaal where he comfortably swaps chairs from the acceptable to the annoying.
Excellent write-up. Its unfortunate that an aam-aadmi gets forgotten amongst the angry young men - the irony is that the country is teeming with aam-aadmis while there are just a handful of (imaginary and strictly filmy) angry young men!
loved him in that film with Shabana Azmi…it was called Apne Paraye or something….a clear diviation from his earlier work…here he plays a good for nothing tabla playing husband…stayed quitely in the backdrop in the whole film….quite liked that act.
Hey Subrat you had mentioned Bharat Rangachary in you post as well…..was he the guy who direct the TV Series Subha? The one on drugs….he dies too early na….kuch info isske bare mein ho to do na bhai
Vasan, yeah Apne Paraye was different from his usual roles. It was also a Basu Chatterjee movie. Was quite a favorite of Zee Cinema in mid 90s.
Bharat Rungachary is the guy who made the TV serial Subah, the first on DD on college life and drug abuse. Bharat Rungachary was considered something of a whiz kid. He started with being an AD to Hrishikesh Mukherjee including Gol Maal, Naram Garam etc.
when he branched out as a Director on his own, I think he was confused on what kind of cinema he should make. So his first was Zameen Aasman with Sanjay Dutt which had Rakhee and Rekha doing the janam deni waali maa (mother who gave birth) and paalne waali maa (mother who brought one up). He then did Baat Ban Jaye which had Utpal Dutt looking for a “gareeb” groom for his neice Zeenat which was more in line of the usual Hrishkesh fare.
He then did a couple of gangster movies in early 90s Khatarnaak (gangster trying to reform but failing) and Zulm ki Hukumat (which is widely believed to be Govinda’s best role).
From there it was downhill, Waqt Hamar Hai (the first movie to bring Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty) with that totally lunatic track on Krypton bomb amidst standard college capers and then Takkar whose only redeeming feature was that “Aankhon mein base ho tum” song and, of course, the improbability of Suniel Shetty becoming a lwayer by studying hard in prison to take revenge on a corrupt cop.
He died young in mid 90s and the last story he wrote (inspired by Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America) was Tere Mere Sapne (ABCL’s first production) directed by Joy Augustine which had Tigmanshu Dhulia completing the dialgues.
To me, however, Subah was his best work. He brought a slick style of story-telling. Remember the first episode of Subah starts with Saleem Ghouse saying “aaj ke din to sab apne ghar mein pooja kar ke aa rahe honge” and we get introduced to each of the characters (starting with Raju Shreshta). And of course that title song with music by the boss RDB which went:
Aye zamane tere, samne aa gaye
Aaj ke daur ke, Naujawan aa gaye
Ban Ke Suraj, Dar pe tere
Leke Subah, aa gaye ab hum
Subah ko kar salam
Subah ko kar salam
maut aur zindagi, dono hairaan hain
waqt ke mod mein, hum woh toofaan hain
Aye zamane tere, samne aa gaye
Aaj ke daur ke, Naujawan aa gaye
Ban Ke Suraj, Dar pe tere
Leke Subah, aa gaye ab hum
Subah ko kar salam
Subah ko kar salam
Hope it helps
Tushar, Karthik - thanks for your comments. I think with Khosla, Bheja Fry do give some hope that there is still market for cinema which is for aam aadmi
While growing up…I never could accept the fact that Amol Palekar could be a hero.Brilliant actor.
Amol Palekar had a unique relation with middle class audiences. The soft, middle class, educated youngster falling prey to situations was what the average Indians were in real life. But people wisened up, India opened up to a market economy. Farouque Shaikh continued this roleplay for a while more. But suddenly in the late 80s and the early 90s there were no takers for this middle class youngster.
Govinda had come to represent the lower middle class in Indian films. He had other aspirations and goals in his movies. He was the streetsmart young Indian.
No other actor did try this genre of movies anymore. In fact, this genre of movies just went out of fashion. India became tapori with a vengeance. Violence and angst hit us. India as a free market nation needed the Rahuls and Rajs to fulfil their consumerist desires. Salman, Shahrukh and the others answered the prayers of India.
Shahrukh did try his own takes on middle class India with Aziz Mirza but always witha twist that said there was no place for the seedha saadha baccha anymore. Ram Prasad Sharma was no longer a name parents preferred.
So, a 360* swing and Amol Palekar accommodated Shahrukh, Rani and Anupam to make his “Paheli”. It had to flop. India had left those values and those people behind.
We are kinkier, naughtier, bolder and go getters of today. We believe in the “Kayanaat conspiring to make us successful”…whatever that stands for!!!…Ram Prasad Dashrath Prasad..well they are our history..like an actor called Amol Palekar!! Even he has changed….
subrat….Subah…still fresh in my memory..salim is ragged and he is asked to remove his shirt…and he burns it…such intensity was new to me on TV…loved the chars…of the serial…apu[raju]…bharat[salim] and that bhatia guy….forgot his name in the serial….sad to hear about the films he made and his untimely demise…..
Subrat,
Your writings are the next option I have after Calvin and Hobbes for a ride down the memory lane. I know your post is not completely on nostalgia, but I love the fact that you remember your childhood with so much detail that when I read it, it really feels like I was there; and then I go aircraft hangar screening movies?
But I am really going green over the composure you have on your writing.
Post more often if that is not asking too much.
Subrat - What a nice post! Amol Palekar certainly deserves the credit and recognition that you have given him here…
The kind of movies he had come to represent in the 70’s and 80’s would have made him a superstar in Kerala. Mainstream malayalam films of the era were all about the extraordinariness of middle class life and Amol would have been a perfect fit :)
Bharat Rungachary and Subah surely are a trip down memory lane. Did not know he was dead…
Very nice post. I would also like to add Farooque Shaikh to this
category.
Wow, finally a piece on Amol Palekar, an actor I really liked and felt his absence for a long time now. I am from Bangalore and Hindi was language I learnt more because of TV & Films rather than at School. I loved all of Hrishi Da & Basu Da movies and as rightly mentioned, they had somehow captured the essence of plum (wodehouse) charm in their stories.
I mean, we no longer have movies made for the middle class. We no longer have small stories or stories about the average man/woman. This is really the cause of so much of junk coming into Hindi films. We really do not show problems of a smaller nature or of lives more ordinary. All things have to have a large landscape, a great big story..every man is supposed to run a big karobaar, every girl is a Rhyse Zaadi..Except for Khosla Ka Ghosla..This is a genre more dead than alive.
This is something that was very evident in many of Amol’s works be it Golmaal, Naram Garam, Rang Birangi (one of my favorites), Ghoranda, Chothi Si Baat, Rajanigandha et al
Indira & Congress may have ranted and raved about the aam aadmi in the 70’s but it was this Bengali triumvirate and Amol who actually showcased it so well
Its heartening to see guys like Amol Palekar being talked about in PFC.
This makes me want to continue logging on to PFC more and more
Cheers, Deepak
@Subrat,
Nice article :)
Its odd thing to accept but its a fact also. Like many big stars Amol Palekar was also trapped in a fixed set of image and he delievered his best in certain kinds of films only. Once Hrishikesh Mukherji and Basu Chaterji started fading away, Amol’s decline was also started.
His kind of actor was heavily dependent on certain kinds of films. He could be used very effectively in Katha in any role (Naseer’s or Farookh Sheikh’s) but not in other kind of roles. Either he himself did not try other areas or directors and producers did not allow him to expand his acting horizon, we dont know.
We only can say Gangaram kunwara reh gaya.
If marriage is a symbole of new phase and new changes in life then he did wonderful job in all the films you mentioned and in films like Ram Nagri, Jeevan Dhara, Jhoothi etc.
He even played grey shaded character in Tarang also but even too much use of eyes did not help him being as famous in new roles as he was in affable urbane middle class character. He did try off beat film “Admi aur Aurat” also and soon took charge of direction with TV Serial Kachchi Dhoop.
In Hindi films also (its said he is big name in Marathi cinema) he has earned fame of a good director.
Amol and his films certainly provided very good and different films (with full of entertainment) in late 70s at a time when Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha and Shashi Kapoor were ruling the Box Office.
If above mentioned Super stars or stars can be alleged not to try different films than their fixed roles then Amol Palekar, a super star in his own area can also be alleged for same thing. Though in collective manner all reprseented different faces of Hindi cinema of their time (along with great inputs from Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Farookh Sheikh etc)
@ 7 - Indraneel
Keenly observed role of Govinda replacing Palekar as the voice of the middle class. The taporification of Bolyywood has continued unabated, especially with all the Mumbai based writers that try to add grit. It seems like the Hindi movie protagonist went from middle class to lower middle class to RICH class over the years.
@ Subrat -
I can’t help but think that we grew up in two different Indias. I spent most of my childhood and adulthood obliterating any memories (through selective amnesia earlier and then with the aid of alcohol) but I can understand all your chronological markers although I don’t have the same emotional attachment to them as you do.
I remember growing up with a complete sense of doom (through the ages 9-16) over the fate of my country and bleakness over my future. I could not have articulated it then, but that is what I felt. There was rampant unemployment, terrorists were tearing apart the corners of India and it seemed that if I could match the middle class standard of living that my parents had given us, life ban jaathi.
I am eternally grateful for India’s coming to the brink of bankruptcy which necessitated drastic economic measures and changed things around. I think the SRK roles up until DDLJ were sort of prescient of the optimism that the future held for the middle class. His exuberance and I-deserve-everything-i-want attitude reflected the change in attitudes, or atleast my attitude.
You have a talent for observing details and weaving a textured narrative around them. I strongly recommend fictionalizing them and writing a coming of age novel told through the eyes of a movie and tv fan. There are some other journalistic efforts out there that document them but I think you have a unique perspective and you know how to commuincate.
good luck.
Subrat….Subah was truly the beginning of a somewhat realist approach to screen narration in India…very raw and real, the dashed dreams of a young,middle class,urban Indian social set…and the way heroin was introduced into series like a character almost, that slowly takes over the lives of all the others. And Salim Ghouse was absolutely perfect for that role, no one can portray soul crushing existentialist angst like that guy could. He was so disgusted by the state of cinema that he pretty much stuck to theatre for the rest of his life….a true purist.
Subrat
films in aircraft hangers sounds suspiciously familiar to me !! you ever in Sulur? Blue Bird Cinema jisko hum pyaar say BBC kahtay thay - was my film school.
I watched my first Hindi film ‘Chitchor’ in one such…… [ since films were shown in the 'rest-of-india' years after their release, this is no indication of my age :) ]
btw the song ‘aaj say pehlay aaja say zyaada ghadi aaj tak nahin mili….’ was my favourite for many many years but given my abysmal knowledge of Hindi at that point, I assumed that Amol Palekar had lost his ‘ghadi’
[ watch ] ….till I joined the ubiquitous KVs and was baptised into ‘bhaiyyadom’!
great post as usual,
K-3
Indraneel - thanks for your comments as usual. I have my own take on India of free markets which is in my response to Dabba’s comment.
Gopi, Bugsnest - glad that you liked the post. Keep coming back to PFC
Shantanu, Deepak - I think the multiplexes have given an opportunity for the small films to make a mark.
RK - Will we discuss all this also on 15.03.2008?
Dabba - Insightful comments, as always. I think at an individual level, I have benefitted immensely from what 15 years of liberalization has achieved. But having spent half my life in pre-liberalization India and other half after it, I don’t get carried away with the exuberance of today’s India nor do I look back at the 80s as a period of doom. There are as many (if not more) internal threats now as they were then - about 5 lakh farmer suicides, 120 odd districts under Naxal shadows et al. May be we will discuss all of this some other time.
Thanks for the suggestion of writing a book and your kind words on the narrative style. The book should in fact be a coming of the age book set in the 90s (and I will ask you for your bit on SRK’s impact).
Qwerty - Salim Ghouse was good. He’s content doing theatre. I don’t know if film-makers approach him with roles at all.
K3 - It was Lohagaon but I am sure Sulur had the same funda. The baptism at KVs started with Daya kar daan vidya ka hamen parmatma dena! While Amol Palekar lost his ghadi in Chitchor his comic timing was still intact (I know, bad pun)
@ Kartik - I just realized that you are the guy who runs itwofs!! I absolutely admire your work and passion. keep going
I am with you on not sharing the exuberance but we are 30 now (if my guess about ur age is right) and it is easier to analyze and be rational now. 91-92 will be landmark years for me because of all the things that happened in a span of 2 years -
lot of changes in my personal life
opening up of the economy
end of gulf war 1 (the last time there seemed to be a righteous war in the world if such a thing exists)
Nirvana and the Seattle music scene sounding the death knell for hair metal
The beginning of the Poppification and Co-opting of hiphop with Dre’s Chronic and the world met Snoop
SRK
oh and i forgot to add, Metallica’s black album.
dabba ,u seem to be a pretty interesting, eclectic and observant guy….yeah, nyc can do that to ya!
and u seem to have followed a similar growth arc as moi….
Any comments on sex, drugs and rock,n’roll….? now if u say anything remotely familiar on that terrain, I’m gonna have to come on over and kiss you..!!
lol, jes kidding.
@subrat & Kavita - KV zindabad..me from KV Chandrapur and Vayusenanagar Nagpur..KV taught us a lot of things..they call it all round development these days..I remember me doing the Assembly News for weeks together as nobody in Chanda could speak English fluently and I/ my family had transferred from Nilgiris where Hindi was unknown!! That adaption to environment lasts me till today..in my movie viewing practices too! Subrat..hope you’ll agree with me there..BTW I live very near Lohegaon!!
@Subrat,
Was not that day fixed for some other thing to discuss?
we always can discuss anything anytime except the topic we have left for that day.:)
—-
Salim Ghouse, was he not in Koyla? Remember seeing him in last 1-2 year in a villaneous role in some other film also.
@28 qwerty -
Thanks, and I’m gonna quit while I’m ahead and not say something trite on sex, drugs and R&R and disappoint you.
I have only been in NYC 2 years, so please direct some of your compliments to the small towns and outskirts of big cities in India where I grew up.
Credit and brickbats where due.
@ Indraneel - I agree with you on adaptability. I switched studying Gepgraphy in Hindi and English twice at school. One year it was all about Him Prapat (glacier), Dakkan Pathaar (Deccan Plateau) and Mishr (Egypt) and next year it was all in English. Retaining sanity was tough
Subrat,
Well written !! I have been following your posts for quite a while, and you remind me of Madan Mohan’s music: a haunting melodic quality. I love the nostalgic feel of your posts. Makes my day many a time. Keep it going!
Shriya.
Shriya - thanks and keep coming back to PFC and keep sending in your comments
Great post, Subrat. I look forward to your posts, got back from my vacation and looked for something new from you, and there it was. You and Bhavani Iyer are the best writers on this forum, in my opinion. And interestingly, both of you have really diverse writing styles. Yours is earthy, grounded, reminds one of forgotten chapters of one’s own childhood, ‘drenched in nostalgia’ as someone commented on one of your earlier writings. While Bhavani’s writing is like filigree, delicate, even amorphous. Pity she doesn’t write more often.
The discussion on ‘Subah’ brought back some lovely memories. I was a pre-teen when that show was on air, but it gave a peek into the tempting college life that was waiting for us.
Also, I think Amol Palekar’s films had some of the most memorable music. One of my favourites is from ‘Rajnigandha’, I think.. Or was it ‘Chotti si baat’? ‘Na jaane kyon, hota hai ye zindagi ke saath… achanak ye mann kisi ke jaane ke baad, kare phir uski yaad, chotti chotti si baat’… It had the beautiful words ‘Saje bina mere nainon mein toote re hai re sapnon ke mahal..’ Melancholy dressed in such vibrant melody.
Looking forward to your next, buddy.
Gatsby - I take that as compliment,not sure if Bhavani Iyer would feel the same