Kunal Guha (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 7, 2017)

The air hung heavy at the Oshiwara crematorium, where veteran actor Om Puri’s last rites were performed last evening. The two-time National Award winner succumbed to a massive heart attack at his Andheri residence yesterday. The thespian had, in his over four-decades-long career, worked in countless commercial and arthouse films in India and in the West. Friends and close associates present at the incineration site to pay their respects included Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar, Nagesh Kukunoor, Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, Satish Kaushik, Deepa Sahi and Ketan Mehta, Kabir Khan and Mini Mathur. Shakti Kapoor, who was among the first to reach the crematorium, spoke fondly of his 40-year-old association with Puri. “He was my junior at FTII and he always spoke to me in Punjabi and referred to me by my real name — Sunil. I just met him 10 days ago at the airport lounge. He was going to Goa and I was flying to Delhi. He appeared a bit weak and was shivering. We had breakfast together and I told him to take care. That was the last I saw of him,” said Kapoor, adding that the first streaks of Puri’s acting prowess became apparent to him in the Punjabi film Chann Pardesi (1981). “In the film, he played a secretary and was the highlight of the film.”

Noticing the fragile state that Puri’s first wife Seema Kapoor was in when she arrived at the crematorium, Shabana Azmi (his co-star from the gut-wrenchingly brilliant Paar, 1984) reached out to comfort her and escorted her from the car. Those present remembered the actor’s quirky sense of humour and how he never allowed the issues in his personal life to crease his forehead. “He was a simple, honest and vibrant personality. He wouldn’t think too much before speaking, but would always speak in a light-hearted manner and people enjoyed being in his company,” remembered action director Sham Kaushal, who last worked with the sexagenarian in Bajrangi Bhaijaan. This also happens to be the same film where Nawazuddin Siddiqui last worked with Puri. The two were supposed to collaborate in Nandita Das’ Manto, which was to commence filming in March this year. “I got into theatre inspired by actors like him. He was my senior at the National School of Drama. He graduated in 1973, while I was in the 1996 batch. He had a striking personality and a photogenic face that one cannot forget. He even had a unique sense of humour. When we were shooting for Bajrangi Bhaijaan in Mandawa, near Jaipur, it was very chilly during the night. Salman Khan, Om Puriji and I would be up chatting till 3 am every night. One night, Om Puriji decided to shed his clothes only to point out to Salmanbhai that even he had a great body,” remembered Siddiqui fondly.