Amol Palekar, on why he isn't acting these days and prefers being a director
PS: His latest directorial venture And Once Again releases next month

Amol Palekar feels he belongs to the age of the dinosaurs. He does not know how to hardsell at a time when according to him, hype, hyper levels and shouting from rooftops is the norm.

The actor-turned-director prefers to live in Pune and make a nice film with an equally nice story he hopes you would go out and watch. His latest And Once Again, which stars Rajat Kapoor, Antara Mali and Rituparna Sengupta, releases August 13.

He is in Mumbai for the movie's promotion and hopes he is heard in today's din as we ask him...

Why are you steering clear from acting nowadays?
That's because I don't fit into the present scenario. But it is not that I only want to direct. There are filmmakers who approach me. When I ask them about my role, they have no answers. I find that strange.

They come to me saying that there is a character that only I can do. When I ask them what do I have to essay, they say you play the hero's father. But what does the father do? They don't know.

Sometimes I get the answer the father is a doctor/professor. Just when I think there is some headway, they don't know what the character has to do. When the makers themselves don't know what to do with me, how do you expect me to act in their project? If they are so unsure, how can I be sure about it?

Is that the reason you prefer being a director?
At least then I know what I have to do. I acted in my last film Samaantar. This was not because I was directing it but because there was a character that I could play. I haven't acted in all the films I direct. I have made 15 films and at my pace I have done fairly well for myself.

Your next And Once Again takes on riots, rebirth and retribution.
The movie is about a man who loses his wife and child in a violent attack. He does not know whom to blame for it. Trying to save himself from going over the edge, he seeks psychiatric care but just when he feels his life is back to normal, he faces yet another dilemma. We have shot the film in Sikkim as the story's setting lends itself to it.

After your SRK-Rani starrer Paheli, you haven't worked with top B-Town stars again...
I have never done the casting of any film, according to star value. When I go through the script I cast according to the characters. I am not the type of filmmaker who first signs the actor and then finds a project to work on.

Life after And Once Again?
I prefer to do one thing at a time. I don't know how people can be making several films at the same time. For me making a movie is an all-encompassing experience. Only after it releases and things settle down, can I even think about what to do next. I am looking at writing a script that I hope I can direct.