Unlikely Hero: Om Puri

by Nandita C. Puri

offers an exclusive glimpse into Om Puri's private life, his struggles and anxieties, and the woes of his heart. Discover the Om Puri no one knows about - the tongue-tied actor from Punjab with stars in his eyes; the incorrigible flirt in drama school; the connoisseur of food and expert cook; and the complete family man. Featuring amusing anecdotes with his family, shocking episodes with the stalwarts of Indian and British cinema, and the nail-biting suspense of his love life, the tale is complemented by rare and unusual photographs. Told with wit, honesty, and élan, this book is a fitting tribute to the inspirational tale of Om Puri - one of the most talented actors of India.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2009

About the author

Nandita C. Puri is a writer and journalist, who has authored a collection of short stories, Nine on Nine, Om Puri’s biography, Unlikely Hero and launched her first novel, Two Worlds this year. Her articles have been published in The Telegraph, Dainik Bhaskar, The Statesman and Mid Day. Besides being a broadcast journalist and an art critic, Nandita has written screenplays for commercial as well as non-commercial cinema.

Reviews

[Mohsin Maqbool · Rating 5 out of 5]

Om Puri: performer par excellence

On reading the biography "Unlikely Hero Om Puri", I realised what a remarkable person Mr Puri truly is. At first I was put off, thinking the book to be full of sycophancy as it has been written by his journalist wife: Nandita C. Puri. However, as I progressed through the various chapters, it became clear she had given an unbiased account of the actor, weighing both the pros and cons of his character and the highs and lows of his life.
Patrick Swayze, who co-starred with Om Puri in Roland Joffe's 'City of Joy' (1991), writes in the Foreword: "What also drew me to him was his silent strength and power. I listened to his life stories and in many ways our life became mirrored in the film. We learned a great deal from each other. We both have overcome incredible odds.Both of us have gone through in life what most people don't know. Therefore, I am so happy that now his story will be told and I am looking forward to reading it."
However, Mr Swayze's dream remain unfulfilled as he died before the book could be published and a copy gifted to him. Both the actors had been the best of friends and met in several countries. Patrick died at the age of 57. How Om lamented that it had been 75 instead of 57!
Naseeruddin Shah, a friend and colleague from the 70s who had co-starred in several films, writes in appreciation: "The gradual metamorphosis from the scrawny, pockmarked adolescent underdog with hungry eyes and an iron will into a significant and very prosperous player in the international acting scene - is the sort of stuff about which ballads were sung in the old days."
Om's father was extremely moody and kept losing jobs ever so often, which is why Om Jr could not attend school during his childhood and had no toys. However, he was happy playing games on the streets like gulli-danda and marbles. His earliest memory is of playing marbles near a gutter and each time a marble rolled in, he would dip his hands to get it out. Every time he did so, his mother would bathe him, regardless of the fact whether it was summer or winter!
His family relocated several times during his childhood. While living in Bhatinda their quarters were opposite the railway tracks in the railway yard. Om's fascination with trains grew around this time. They used to be parked near his house and he would spend hours sleeping in the trains. He would get up and leave every time they moved. His father took him in all kinds of trains and this became a lifelong passion.
He was tutored for two years and finally started attending school when he was about 10. There was no looking back after that. He was not only good in studies but also in sports like kabadi and hockey.
The book contains all kinds of incidents from Om's life from happy to sad, and from humorous to grim. Om was 18 when his mother Tara Devi died. He realised that he had no photographs of her. 'Before the pain of her death could register, the first thought that flashed through my mind was that I had no photograph of the two of us together.' He insisted that his cousins fetch a photographer and finally a photo was taken with the family standing around her body.
National School of Drama proved to be a transforming period for Om where he specialised in acting. Sheila Bhatia, the head of the acting department, who taught improvisation, was the butt of many jokes due to her heavy bust-line. Each time she asked her students to 'bring out their emotions', she moved her hands around her bust-line and the students broke into hysterics.
The most popular classes were those of Professor Alkazi who taught Western drama. He was an excellent teacher as well as a learned scholar. He introduced the concept of a biweekly 'library period' in which the students had to visit the library and read anything that they desired to. This cultivated the habit of reading in them.
The three years (1970-1973) in the National School of Drama proved vital in the making of Om Puri the actor. Om got admitted into the Film and Television Institute of India with great difficulty. Even though he passed the test with relative ease, the interview board was in a muddle as to why they should take Om as a student. 'He doesn't look like a hero, nor like a villain, nor a comedian. What use will he be to the industry?' they said in unison.
I am surprised that the interview board should think in this way. In real life, the most ghastly-looking people can turn out be ones with a charming nature while the most handsome can turn out to be people with evil on their minds. Looks can be extremely deceiving!
Film screenings were the only source of learning at the Film and Television Training Institute where Om got acquired with the works of renowned directors like Ray, Bergman, Fellini, Roy, Kurosawa, Zanussi and Ghatak.
Critics and audiences first started noticing him as the mute Lahanya Bhiku in Govind Nihalani's 'Aakrosh'. His intensity was such that they knew he was an actor to reckon with. The role won him a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1982.
Nihalani's next film 'Ardh Satya' truly brought him into the limelight. His role as a disgruntled cop, Anant Velankar, was noticed by film buffs all over India and won him the National Award for Best Actor in 1984. Earlier, no 'art film' had run for 22 weeks!
'Ardh Satya' remains a landmark film for Indian cinema. "It is a special favourite with the Indian police force and is shown in police training academies throughout the country."
In Om Puri's own words (while talking about his first Hollywood venture 'City of Joy'), he says, "I started learning to pull a rickshaw from two regular rickshaw-pullers. We would start out early in the morning and return to the hotel before the traffic started. After a few days, I realised that most of the rickshaw-pullers ran barefoot. The first few days were tough, but slowly I managed."
Ample space has been devoted to two of his most acclaimed films: 'Ardh Satya' and 'City of Joy'.
The chapter 'That's Amore' describes his penchant for older women, including a Maami! However, once he reached Bombay, he finally shed his Oedipus complex. He always seems to be having affairs with two women at a time, as if he wanted to play it safe by having the second handy if something went wrong with the first and vice versa!
Nandita C. Puri writes: "As for reading, Om may read a play once in a while but you will rarely catch him reading fiction or a thriller. One of the few fictional works he has enjoyed is Irving Wallace's 'Lust for Life'." She elucidates that she learned a lot from him regarding films and understanding them which helped her a great deal with her columns.
She writes: "We almost got caught for jaywalking as we had lost our way after a visit to Rodeo Drive. Because, as the guidebooks say, 'no one ever walks in LA'." I don't know which one says that as I have stayed in LA for eight months in 1981 and walked in most parts of 'The City of Angels' and never got caught once either by an angel or a cop!
Nandita is a straightforward writer and tells it like it is without taking sides with her husband. The biography keeps your interest from start to finish. It had to as Mrs Puri is a renowned journalist from Kolkata who has written articles for some of the best newspapers like 'The Telegraph' and 'The Statesman'.
She writes that during their foreign trips they loved eating 'chikkis (sticky, sweet jaggery and peanut candies)'. I am surprised that being a journo and so well-travelled she does not know that they are called peanut brittle!
Amazing black & white photographs are encrusted like gems in the tome which make it all the more interesting. The only fault I found with the book was a few typos which I am sure will be there no more when the second edition gets published.

[Debolina Raja · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up Unlikely Hero: Om Puri, by journalist-turned-author Nandita C Puri, who is also Om Puri's wife in real life, not because I like Om Puri's work as an actor (which I do), but because I had read so much hype and gossip around it that I really wanted to get my share too...I know, all the wrong reasons to get a book (but sometimes, picking up a book coz it was too hyped or portrayed in juicy sections has actually been a good experience.) Not this time though!

The book was a royal disappointment - a waste of money, a waste of time and a waste of my expectations! I am hugely hugely disappointed.

Well, if you're not aware of all the gossip this book generated right before its release time, let me give you a little insight into the same, so that you understand why I was so wrongly excited to pick this one up. From some time before its release, Indian newspapers were carrying stories of how there was trouble in Om Puri's marriage because his wife had come out with this 'explosive' and 'bare all' book on the actor, so much so that Om Puri had, supposedly, decided to divorce his wife, leave her and go back to his first wife.

There were interviews after interviews and stories after stories from both Om Puri and Nandita's side, stating how Om Puri was shocked that whatever he told his wife in his private space was now made into a book to be read by the entire country and world! For her side, Nandita maintained that she wanted to show Om Puri to the world as he truly was, to make sure that everyone got to know this amazing person who she lived with day and night. She said that despite the fact that she comes out with a lot of shocking never-before divulged details about Om Puri's life, these are all done in a sensible and aesthetic way.

Okay, so much so for the PR team and the author's work (I hope Om Puri was truly not a part of creating all this nonsense and cheap publicity stunts around the book) that me, and many like me, were tempted to go for this one - just what these guys planned.

Details about the book:

Title: Unlikely Hero Om Puri

Author: Nandita C Puri

No. of Pages: 206

Publisher: Lotus Roli

Type: Paperback

Genre: Biography

Price: INR 395 (I picked it up at a 40% discount!)

And what did I think of the book?????

The book has nothing of the 'dirty' details that supposedly caused so much fight in Om Puri and Nandita's marriage. There are no 'dirty' things that Om Puri did, except only one instance, that too can't be termed dirty as Om Puri was barely 13/14 years old and was kind-of exploited by a maid who was about 50!!! Reading it was repulsive and dirty and disgusting, and this was just about a page in the entire 206 pages of the book!

The book is a bore, I am sorry to say! I skipped and skipped through the pages, as I just couldn't sit through so many repetitive sections. I am really kind of surprised at this book! I mean, really? Is THIS what the hype was all about?? I really wish I got a chance to sit with Nandita C Puri and ask her why exactly did she think she had to come out with this waste of a book! Not many get the chance that she got, living with such a talented actor and knowing so much about him and his work, and there's hardly any insight into the man's work. Imagine how interesting it would have been to know behind-the-scene kind of stuff, like what Om Puri does when he lands up at the sets, how he decides on a script before agreeing to a movie, how does he prepare for working on a movie that has been based on a book, how does he memorise his lines, what makes him nervous, when was he star-struck or spell-bound enough to mess up his lines....things like this would have made this book a collector's item....but sadly, it goes away without as much as even a whisper....

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlikely Hero: Om Puri (Paperback) by Nandita C. Puri- biography- Author is Om Puri's 2nd wife. She is a journalist by profession. Thus, she has done an appreciable job of presenting the life of her husband. Author begins with his poverty -stricken childhood, his school life which was excellent including studies and sports, to his stay with this rare, gifted actor. Author’s opinion is that he did not get his due in the Hindi film industry. Foreword to this book has been written by Patrick Swayze, who co-starred with Om Puri in Roland Joffe's 'City of Joy' (1991). He writes in the Foreword: "What also drew me to him was his silent strength and power. I listened to his life stories and in many ways our life became mirrored in the film. We learned a great deal from each other. We both have overcome incredible odds. The two of us have gone through in life what most people don't know. Therefore, I am so happy that now his story will be told and I am looking forward to reading it." However, Mr. Swayze's dream remained unfulfilled as he died before the book could be published and a copy gifted to him. Both the actors had been the best of friends and met in several countries. Patrick died at the age of 57. How Om lamented that it had been 75 instead of 57!
Naseeruddin Shah, a friend and colleague from the 70s who had co-starred in several films, writes in appreciation: "The gradual metamorphosis from the scrawny, pockmarked adolescent underdog with hungry eyes and an iron will into a significant and very prosperous player in the international acting scene - is the sort of stuff about which ballads were sung in the old days." Om's father was extremely moody and kept losing jobs ever so often, which is why Om Jr could not attend school during his childhood and had no toys. However, he was happy playing games on the streets like gulli-danda and marbles. His earliest memory is of playing marbles near a gutter and each time a marble rolled in, he would dip his hands to get it out. Every time he did so, his mother would bathe him, regardless of the fact whether it was summer or winter! His family relocated several times during his childhood. While living in Bhatinda their quarters were opposite the railway tracks in the railway yard. Om's fascination with trains grew around this time. They used to be parked near his house and he would spend hours sleeping in the trains. He would get up and leave every time they moved. His father took him in all kinds of trains and this became a lifelong passion. He was tutored for two years and finally started attending school when he was about 10. There was no looking back after that. He was not only good in studies but also in sports like kabadi and hockey.
The book contains many incidents from Om's life from happy to sad, and from humorous to grim. Om was 18 when his mother Tara Devi died. He realised that he had no photographs of her. 'Before the pain of her death could register, the first thought that flashed through my mind was that I had no photograph of the two of us together.' He insisted that his cousins fetch a photographer and finally a photo was taken with the family standing around her body. The National School of Drama proved to be a transforming period for Om where he specialised in acting. Sheila Bhatia, the head of the acting department, who taught improvisation, was the butt of many jokes due to her heavy bust-line. Each time she asked her students to 'bring out their emotions', she moved her hands around her bust-line and the students broke into hysterics.
The most popular classes were those of Professor Alkazi who taught Western drama. He was an excellent teacher as well as a learned scholar. He introduced the concept of a biweekly 'library period' in which the students had to visit the library and read anything that they desired to. This cultivated the habit of reading in them. The three years (1970-1973) in the National School of Drama proved vital in the making of Om Puri the actor. Om got admitted into the Film and Television Institute of India with great difficulty. Even though he passed the test with relative ease, the interview board was in a muddle as to why they should take Om as a student. 'He doesn't look like a hero, nor like a villain, nor a comedian. What use will he be to the industry?' they said in unison. I am surprised that the interview board should think in this way. In real life, the most ghastly-looking people can turn out be ones with a charming nature while the most handsome can turn out to be people with evil on their minds. Looks can be extremely deceiving! Film screenings were the only source of learning at the Film and Television Training Institute where Om got acquired with the works of renowned directors like Ray, Bergman, Fellini, Roy, Kurosawa, Zanussi and Ghatak.
Critics and audiences first started noticing him as the mute Lahanya Bhiku in Govind Nihalani's 'Aakrosh'. His intensity was such that they knew he was an actor to reckon with. The role won him a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1982. Nihalani's next film 'Ardh Satya' truly brought him into the limelight. His role as a disgruntled cop, Anant Velankar, was noticed by film buffs all over India and won him the National Award for Best Actor in 1984. Earlier, no 'art film' had run for 22 weeks!
'Ardh Satya' remains a landmark film for Indian cinema. "It is a special favourite with the Indian police force and is shown in police training academies throughout the country." In Om Puri's own words (while talking about his first Hollywood venture 'City of Joy'), he says, "I started learning to pull a rickshaw from two regular rickshaw-pullers. We would start out early in the morning and return to the hotel before the traffic started. After a few days, I realised that most of the rickshaw-pullers ran barefoot. The first few days were tough, but slowly I managed." Ample space has been devoted to two of his most acclaimed films: 'Ardh Satya' and 'City of Joy'. The chapter 'That's Amore' describes his penchant for older women, including a Maami! However, once he reached Bombay, he finally shed his Oedipus complex. He always seems to be having affairs with two women at a time, as if he wanted to play it safe by having the second handy if something went wrong with the first and vice versa! Nandita C. Puri writes: "As for reading, Om may read a play once in a while but you will rarely catch him reading fiction or a thriller. One of the few fictional works he has enjoyed is Irving Wallace's 'Lust for Life'." She elucidates that she learned a lot from him regarding films and understanding them which helped her a great deal with her columns.
She writes: "We almost got caught for jaywalking as we had lost our way after a visit to Rodeo Drive. Because, as the guidebooks say, 'no one ever walks in LA'." I don't know which one says that as I have stayed in LA for eight months in 1981 and walked in most parts of 'The City of Angels' and never got caught once either by an angel or a cop! Nandita is a straightforward writer and tells it like it is without taking sides with her husband. The biography keeps your interest from start to finish. It had to as Mrs. Puri is a renowned journalist from Kolkata who has written articles for some of the best newspapers like 'The Telegraph' and 'The Statesman'. She writes that during their foreign trips they loved eating 'chikkis (sticky, sweet jaggery and peanut candies)'. I am surprised that being a journo and so well-travelled she does not know that they are called peanut brittle! Amazing black & white photographs are encrusted like gems in the tome which make it all the more interesting. The only fault I found with the book was a few typos which I am sure will be there no more when the second edition gets published. This quite an interesting book for readers of all age groups.

[Samir Dhond · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I admire Om Puri's body of work and of course, because it was in the news for all the wrong reasons. :) However, the book was a HUGE disappointment for me. I mean, what an ordinary writing! I am amazed that Nandita Puri, a journalist could write such ordinary stuff. Moreover, the book does not talk about Om Puri's experiences as a performing artiste. He has done some extensive work with the likes of Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi and some great directors but the book just about touches on those aspects. Too much was written about his upbringing and his relationships with different women. The book also came across as a piece of biography that delves into the "Comfort Zone" of the writer and the subject. The book seems highly edited and does come across as something that is candid at times (that too at wring places) and the rest just ommitted. It was very ordinary. I do not think people would be interested in knowing who he slept with and when. Waste of paper!

After reading the book, I just did not feel that I got an insight about an accomplished artiste. You kind of take it, read it and put it aside. Very ordinary! Very pale!

[Ramaswamy Raman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rare gifted actor who I thought did not get his due in the Hindi film industry. This biography written by his wife, with his consent, is an effort to present the man, the actor and his journey from a village boy in Punjab to be a legendary actor.
Nandita Puri, Om Puri's 2nd wife, being a journalist has done a appreciable job of presenting the life of her husband. She starts from his poverty stricken childhood, his school life which was excellent including studies and sports, to his stay with his rich maternal uncle's and his college life.
The acting bug as is said was instilled in him through an ex NSD graduate whom Om Puri considers his first acting guru. His journey to NSD and then to FTII, his life there and his colleagues are described nicely in this book.
Om Puri's journey in British movies and television is also described well with description of how the directors and actors were and how his experience there. Om Puri started with so called parallel cinema and quickly gained a name for himself as a great actor with a booming voice.
He entered into the main stream cinema with the idea of making money as he was unhappy with the kind of roles he did.
Some of his films and his private life also has been detailed in an unbiased way.
Overall a good read into the life of a class actor and a good human being is well narrated in this book.

[Aaditee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Such a pity that a remarkable man's life has been condensed to such trivialities. I am unable to fathom how the writer could be a journalist because there seem to be no depth at all to this great actor's life.
I was expecting a candid portrayal of Om Puri whose wisdom and goodness never failed to inspire but all we get is a cardboard type portrayal .Naseeruddin Shah's autobiography seemed to have more warmth for Om than this one.

[Swati Agrawal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars!
4 stars for such an interesting life story. However, I felt the narrative could have been much more compelling.
It was saddening to read someone's biography whi has died not long back because it meant the narrative was about a living individual.

[Ramya Viswanathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Om Puri was a brilliant actor. And he had a fascinating life. A true rags to riches story. A lot of greys in his life and his character. His ex-wife had brilliant material to work with and has done a disservice to the biography genre. Very flat portrayal of a great story.

[Avaneesh Kumar · Rating 3 out of 5]

well written, worth reading

[Harsimran Jit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic insight into the life of one of the finest actors of our times

[Vidya Ramakrishna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I happened to pick this one while I was searching for Rishi Kapoor's "Khullam Khulla" in biographies section of my library. I admire Om Puri as an actor but was not fascinated about him or his life till his death! His death coincided with my father's and almost in same manner, a sudden massive cardiac arrest if the reports about his death are to be believed. So I kept thinking about him and his life too at the same time when I was mourning and thinking of my father for days together in last December.

I had no expectations and was to some extent aware of the controversies in his life. Salutes to the person who bore so much hardships in life and still grew up to be one of the fine unconventional actors of the Indian Cinema. I wish his soul finds peace in eternity.

[Varun Kashyap · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very poor attempt at the biography!
It seemed like running through the wikipedia pages of Om Puri's life rather than a biography. The stories the events are bereft of any emotions of Om Puri's personality its more so a chronological order of what happened in his life.
I picked this up after his death, considering the hardships he had to face in his life and to achieve what he did. I wanted to read his inspiring life , his journey and learn from him. Learn from his story how he persevered against all odds, swam against the tide and achieve what he always wanted to achieve. But its not there in the book. Its all very bland, no emotions , nothing.

Considering the colorful and eventful his life has been , its a very very poor attempt on part of Nandita Puri. Especially the later half of the book, which seems more like her travelogue rather than Om Puri's story . This seems a very obscene attempt to be fair on the part of author to sell her experiences/story wrapped up in the amazing life of her husband and a very poor attempt at a biography .

Not at all recommended.

[Neeta Shukla · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Om Puri is a great actor, Nandita's writing has not done justice to his skills. There are grammatical errors and the chapter selection and chronology does not make mush sense. Nandita the wife has completely overshadowed Nandita the writer.
The book is good if you wish to know more about Om Puri's life, but it certainly could have been much better if written by a professional.

[Sbijapure · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and readable. Along with the story of his life the book contains many photographs of the actor, both from his daily life and movie scenes. A list of names of his film and TV programs (Filmography) is provided at the end. There is an "Overview of Indian Cinema" (3 pages) and "Tips to Actors " (4 pages) both written by Om Puri himself. 216 good quality pages.

[Nikhil Joshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

personal but honest rendition

i read this book after Om Puris recent death. one of the eulogies referred to this book as a scathing review of his "other side". it was hardly so. he had a truly amazing life and the book captures the vivid and multi faceted man he was.

[Ranjini · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent attempt to portray the enigma of Om Puri.
Though I do not see what the controversy leading to their divorce was about...
It seemed mutually written.

However, does give a fair amount of insight to the man with the deep baritone and pock-marked face.

[Sandeep]

I picked up this book to know what exaclty did she worte to the world to show off her husband

[Anwarabdul]

Unlikely Hero: Om Puri

[Hema Thorat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice story of a person who didnt have

[Arun Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such an interesting personality. Such a mesmerizing and inspirational journey and such a disgraceful writing to tell us about him.

Writing could have been much much much better.