East or West Om Puri is still miles ahead of the rest

It isn’t very often that one gets to interview a veteran actor. Thanks to being utterly in awe of the actor, I was a little nervous and also very careful about not going wrong in any way when I came face to face with Om Puri at the West is West press conference in the capital. At first glance he comes across as a simple man, simply dressed, modest and unpretentious. “I have done East is East, which was a huge hit in the West, therefore I saw a lot of potential and chose to do it,” he starts the conversation by talking about his latest release. “It is a very good film. Very well-written script,” he asserts.

Om Puri made his debut in 1976 and has appeared both in parallel as well as mainstream cinema. He has also done movies in regional languages like Punjabi and Kannada. Ask him of his personal favourite performance and he says “Ardh Satya,” with a lot of pride. He had essayed the role of a police inspector fighting against the system in the film, and he had received the National Award for Best Actor for it too. He goes on to tell me about his fellow actors and co-stars with whom he shared a very good equation, “Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Madhuri Dixit and now lately Priyanka Chopra.” He mentions actor Naseeruddin Shah being his batch mate at NSD (National School of Drama) and says his experience at the school was “…excellent. I learnt a lot at NSD. It was very good,” he recalls fondly.

The road to the top isn’t an easy one, and I ask the actor for advice he would like to give to young talent wanting to make it in the film industry.

“They should all firstly complete their formal education,” he says in a firm tone, then softening his voice proceeds, “I went to a drama school (NSD) for three years and film institute (Film and Television Institute of India, Pune) for two years. Formal training in acting is important. Most importantly, they must have a parallel profession, because not always would one be successful in the industry. It is a very speculative industry. A lot of people come to the film industry and they don’t make it. So, if one does not make it, at least there should be something to go back to.”

Being a person who vocally thanks commercial cinema for giving him a comfortable living, and who has seen several years of struggle, one is not surprised at his insistence of a parallel career. Speaking about new and young talent, he also mentions few directors who are making good films today. “There are 10 to 12 directors in Mumbai who make wonderful films. Ashutosh Gowariker, Vishal Bhardwaj, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Santoshi, Rajkumar Hirani, Farhan Akhtar.”

Om Puri is very precise with his answers, and clear in his thought. He doesn’t take a moment to tell me his favourite actor. “Amitabh Bachchan” his booming voice resonates with confidence. I move on to asking him of his achievements in British and American films and he replies, “How are Hollywood films and the work over there different from ours back home? They are great with their subject but there isn’t a big difference,” remarks the evidently humble man.

Does he really desire to essay any particular character on screen in the future? “No, I am very satisfied. I have done 250 films out of which at least 30 will be remembered even after I am gone, so I am quite happy,” quips the versatile actor.

I wrap up the interview with my last question to which he answers “Satisfactory”. Only one word he uses to sum-up his very long and successful journey in the film industry. But we know better, don’t we?