It’s the 75th Birth Anniversary of the legendary Om Puri. The director of his acclaimed espionage movie Mukhbir (2008) remembered the late icon in an interview with us.
What was it like to work with Om Puri?
Om Puri was a grounded, down to earth, genius of an actor. He could manifest emotions at a belly level, and that visceral performance was his signature, even in Mukhbir. I remember his performances, his prep, practice, rehearsals he would do with himself, in private, for difficult scenes, and the way his eyes would continually reflect shades of emotions as he performed. In that sense, Om Puri never performed. He became the character in that situation faced with that challenge- and he showed it as it came.
He was also a good human being
More than an actor, Om Puri came across as a real person; always accessible, vulnerable, confiding with surprising candour. He knew hardship, his stories of good times and funny times with his co-stars in classic films kept me in stitches.
Tell us something about Om that we don’t know?
He was a great mimic, could do impersonations of auto rickshaw drivers, constables, villagers and ordinary folk, revealing his amazing eye for emotional detail. Om Puri was a restless student of human nature: that was the secret of his genius. He could effortlessly master language accents as well. We were shooting in Hyderabad and he picked up the local accent so quickly, he started talking back to people on the sets with that peculiar Hyderabadi accent, and keep everyone laughing endlessly.
In Mukhbir, Om was unforgettable as Sammir Dattani’s mentor
This one scene, his death in Mukhbir, where he signals to his co-actor Sammir Dattani to kill him and save his own life was a classic in movie performance. The subtlety of the expression was so touching, so fleeting you could miss it- but nobody did. When I saw the shot, Om Puri read my expression and responded before I said anything, ‘Audience will notice it. Dont worry.’ I trusted him on that. And yes he was right.
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