The "Middle Class" Guy

One of the sects of the Mumbai Diaspora which continues to fascinate me, is its middle class. This archetypically modelled section is often attributed a lot of success for producing quality engineers, doctors, accountants and other pros. The reason behind this success is the thought process which the middle class has, mainly its utmost respect for education and hard work.
One of my favorite heroes comes from this background. His acting prowess and the ease with which he sinks into his roles, continues to amaze me. For the past several years, he has worked with the great "Bongs"-Basu Chatterjee, Hrishikesh Mukherjee among a few notable of them. The man i am referring to is none other than- Amol Palekar. He has been the epitome of the "middle class" hero for as long as I remember. His expressions and dialogues in all of his movies spoke a lot about the twists and turns one encounters in various walks of life. It was "Golmaal" where his character bends every rule to secure his foothold in the office of a moustache-loving babu. This movie talks every bit about the aspirations of an easy going young man who yearns to be the next Amitabh! One cannot help but wonder at how he could hold his own amongst the actors of his generation like the great Utpal Dutt. If "Golmaal" was all fun and games, "Choti si Baat" was a story of a young man whose very aim is to charm the lady he likes with his qualities (genetically inherited from his middle class parents!). The only hitch is that he is too introvert to take life into his own hands and be the "Man". "Choti si Baat" spoke about the troubles of a person who never had to make a decision on his own till it came to the issue of a girl he loved. It reflected the middle class upbringing with children living in the shadows of their parents despite reaching a nubile age.
"Baton Baton Mein" was yet another masterpiece for its simple portrayal of a young couple's marriage plans being affected by the decisions of their families. One of the most hilarious scenes from that movie was when the hero and the heroine plan a movie date, only to know that their parents would accompany them as well! Far before movies like "Saathiya" (Alaipayuthey) which showed romance brewing in the otherwise congested local trains of Mumbai, "Baton Baton Mein" started the trend. Well, one could easily understand from the movie that Mumbai had lesser population then!
This post was dedicated to Amol Palekar and the middle class fraternity cause of one reason. Both seem to have vanished from the film circuit. No longer does one find the well educated young man in movies, who Amol so graciously portrayed on the 70mm reel. Its all the Karan Johars and the Shahrukhs who have decided to take film making into their hands with larger than life roles and scenes enacted in the flowery confines of Snow Clad Alps. If only someone thought of the middle class.....:)