Short Review: Unlikely Hero by Nandita Puri

At the start of her book, Nandita Puri has published an endearing picture of her husband and her son, Ishaan, playing with each other. The photographed is captioned "For Ishaan: A legacy you will cherish". Sadly, however, the author chooses to ignore Om Puri's cinematic legacy focusing on his personal life instead. And what could've made for a riveting read is just a collection of anecdotes and incidents from Om Puri's personal life which has been full of hardships and tribulations. 


Om Puri found his bearings at his birthplace Ambala,  where we are informed that Puri had no clue about his actual date of birth, was the youngest child of his parents, didn't go to school and had briefly contracted smallpox. Financial constraints meant that he had to do odd jobs (washing utensils at a dhaba being one of them) and move to Patiala to finish his higher studies. It was there that Puri experienced his first brush with cinema. Soon, stints at the National School of Drama (NSD) and the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) followed. Om Puri went unnoticed in his first six films until Aakrosh happened followed by Ardh Satya.


In between all of this, there was Om Puri the womaniser and philanderer. To be fair, his biographer wife Nandita has boldly written about the actor’s womanising ways (his affair with Santi, the domestic help, his crush on actresses Seema Sawhni and Rohini Hattangadi and his failed first marriage to a woman named Mala). At one level, all these might seem like salacious bits of gossip which were included to sell the book. However, these incidents help to demonstrate how a successful, good-looking young man from a small town can get carried away by attention and glamour. But that's not what makes this a mediocre book. 


An actor as accomplished as Om Puri surely deserves a biography where his body of work is analysed thoroughly. How does he straddle the worlds of popular and 'offbeat' cinema with such ease? Why aren't movies,  which evoke the anger of Ardh Satya or the humour of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, not made any more? What did he make of his brush with television? Does he enjoy doing Western cinema? And what makes him do movies as horrible as Singh Is King, Victoria No. 203 and King of Bollywood?


Instead, what does the reader get in this book? A short overview by Om of his favorite films and a 'Tips To Aspiring Actors' manual at the end. Clearly, Nandita Puri could've written a much better biography of her talented husband. Sadly, she chooses not to.


Did this for Businessworld Online


P.S. Part-2 of Niall Ferguson's session at Jaipur will be uploaded once my current crop of assignments is over. Also, expect a super exclusive piece about Sidin Vadukut and his debut novel Dork. But for now, I'm busy reading Shahriar Mandanipour's Censoring An Iranian Love Story. As always, review will be posted once it's published in print


Ciao!