Om Puri passes on

Om Puri, one of India's most versatile actors who strode across parallel, mainstream Bollywood commercial cinema and Hollywood and British films with equal elan, died of a massive heart attack at his residence in Mumbai early yesterday.

The 66-year-old actor reportedly returned from a film shoot last night, but did not answer the calling bell of his driver who raised an alarm.

Puri, who gave a scintillating performance in several award-winning Indian films, including Satyajit Ray's TV film “Sadgati” and Govind Nihalani-directed “Aakrosh”, also featured in several cross-over movies.

Born in Ambala in northern state of Haryana to a Punjabi railway officer, Om Puri also acted in Bangla film “Chokh”, directed by Utpalendu Chakrabarty in the role of a jute mill labourer. He made his film debut in 1976 in Marathi language film “Ghashiram Kotwal” based on a play of the same name by legendary playwright Vijay Tendulkar.

He rose to fame with films like “Ardh Satya”, “Aakrosh” (both directed by Nihalani) and Gautam Ghosh-helmed “Paar”. His popularity later extended to mainstream cinema with iconic roles in films like “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron” and “Maachis” directed by Gulzar.

His roles as a landless peasant in “Aakrosh” and a policeman cracking down hard on corruption in “Ardh Satya” made him an iconic film personality. In both the films, he was paired with accomplished actress Smita Patil.

A graduate of Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, Om Puri was also an alumnus of the 1973 batch of Delhi's National School of Drama where Naseeruddin Shah was a fellow student.

Om Puri, along with Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil, were among the critically-acclaimed actors who flourished in the parallel cinema circuit in 80s mainly in the films made by Shyam Bengal, Nihalani and Ketan Mehta, like “Bhavni Bhavai” (1980), “Mirch Masala” (1986) and “Dharavi” (1992).

He also played a cameo in British director Richard Attenborough's “Gandhi”. In 1990s, he ventured into Bollywood cinema and starred opposite legendary British actress Helen Mirren in Steven Spielberg's 2014 comedy drama “The Hundred Foot Journey”.

Over the years, Om Puri also made a name for himself in Hollywood and British productions. He appeared in films like “City of Joy” (1992), opposite Patrick Swayze; “Wolf” (1994) with Jack Nicholson; and “The Ghost and the Darkness” (1996) opposite Val Kilmer. He played General Zia-ul-Haq in Charlie Wilson's “War”, which starred Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. Another meaty role of his came in the British film “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”.

Om Puri earned international fame in British films such as “My Son the Fanatic”, “East Is East”, “The Parole Officer” and others.

He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, in 1990 and the Order of British Empire.

Some of his other notable films include “Gupt”, “Yuva”, “Don”, “Agneepath” and “Bajrangi Bhaijaan”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of Om Puri. Among those who expressed grief are directors Mahesh Bhatt, Karan Johar, Madhur Bhandarkar and Sujit Sarkar, and actors of all generations. Anupam Kher - his co-star of many films – described Om Puri as “one of our greatest actors.”

Boman Irani, Neha Dhupia and Akshay Kumar were just some of the many members of the Indian film fraternity who poured in their tributes on social media.