The legendary actor has portrayed many Pakistani characters, and will next be seen as General Kiyani. PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
If there is one person that does not need an introduction, it would have to be Om Puri. One of the most recognised South Asian personalities across the world, Puri is currently in Lahore for the first time with his new play Teri Amrita. From East is East to Charlie Wilson’s War, Puri has played a vast array of Pakistani personalities and characters and he is now setting out to portray General Kiyani in a biopic on arguably the most famous Pakistani of our time, Malala Yousafzai.
“It was very noble what General Kiyani did for Malala,” says Om Puri in an exclusive tête-à-tête with The Express Tribune, “I am excited to portray him in the film.” Actors have a very delicate job to perform when portraying a real life character, “it is important to capture the essence of the person but not imitate him/her, and that is the most important thing one has to do when playing a real person,” says Puri.
Puri talks about the process used to prepare for the role. What he describes as his method falls directly in line with the teachings of Stanislavski’s approach to realistic acting. “For every character, one needs to mentally create a back story that becomes a reference point for your reactions, the emotional part of the character helps analyse how the character feels about different situations, and finally it is the physical manifestation of the role.”
His work has been very eclectic from villainous characters to comedic ones, Om Puri has done it all. He has found the most satisfaction in working on socially relevant films thus far in his career. “I was never considered the most sell-able star, and hence had to create a niche for myself that worked,” continues Puri, “while commercial films have improved, films on hard pressing issues are missing from the industry and even when they are made, the issue is sugar coated and depicted in a softer manner.”
In Charlie Wilson’s War, Puri portrayed the Pakistani dictator Ziaul Haq. “I really enjoyed playing Ziaul Haq,” he says of the experience, “I still remember when we were discussing the character. I told the director that Zia-ul-Haq had a gold tooth, they had one made for me and I have saved it as a souvenir.”
Om Puri’s love for Pakistan stems from his encounters with Pakistani people all around the globe. “The love and affection I have gotten from Pakistanis across the world has been extraordinary.” He remembers an incident from back in the 90s while filming My Son the Fanatic in London, when his son wanted to eat bhindi (lady fingers). In order to fulfill his son’s wishes, Puri ventured out to South Hall. “After I had selected all the vegetables I wanted to get, I proceeded to the cashier and the gentleman was a Pakistani who recognised me. He did not let me pay for the vegetables and said ‘you have given us so much joy and we have enjoyed your work so much that it is ethically wrong for me to take money from you’.”
The hard-hitting reality of Indo-Pak politics dictates an animosity between the two nations but on a personal level, people have found great friendships across the border. “It has been my lifelong dream to visit Pakistan and when I crossed the border yesterday into Lahore, I felt like I had just been born,” confesses Puri. “I tried looking for differences between the two countries, and what would be something new to see, but I didn’t find any. After all we are the same people and our lifetime apart is only a minute fraction of our history.”
While he presses on the point that life is too short to have grudges and grievances, he also highlights the fact that there are people around the world who fail to understand humanity and cause trouble not only for themselves, but also for those around them. “We all have to die one day, whether it is in a bomb blast or due to some illness. What is important to understand is that those trying to pull us apart are not strong enough if we are determined to stand up for what is right.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2014.
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COMMENTS (14)
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@np:
In 1941 Karachi may have had lots of hindus, they all migrated in 1947. so there is no issue of hindus killed after 1947 in Karachi. get your facts right. As far as the persecution of minorities goes in Pakistan, more muslims get killed in Pakistan than minorities. But the same is not true for India where actually more muslims get killed as compared to hindus. so you need to set your own house in order first, before criticizing your neighbour.
@someone: very well said!
@waterbottle
Mixing lies with half truths is your speciality.
This article was all about Om Puri. Why does ET publish comments which are way off the topic? A nasty comment leads to another and it goes on and on
So long as the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks are roaming free in Pakistan, all talks about normalization of relations are futile.
@Bobby Singh: Yeah see the difference. We Indians put our nationality before our faith and that is why for the people whose faith is before their nation, we gave them land already. The ones who remain, love to be Indian first and hindu, Muslim , Sikh, Christian later. By the way , there was no nonsense in the comment from "np". He just mentioned the facts. Also, for the people who think that the other minorities are considered as second class citizen, they are either misinformed or just want to malign India with false propaganda. Having said that, no where in the world there is absolute perfect society. Pakistan has Muslim population of more than 90% and who, as per themselves, follow the religion of peace but can some one even think Pakistan is more peaceful than India.No where in the world there is as much diversity as India has not just in term of religion but language, believe systems, ethnicity etc on top of more than a billion people. In these condition, its a miracle in India is more peaceful than most part of the world and certainly doing better than neighbors. There is no way a religion can be an identity in India. Only "Indian" can be an identity in India and that is what India is striving for.
Indians talking of equality and democracy. I just heard the Kashmiri's students getting expelled and getting death threats for saying they are not Indians but Kashmiri's.
Laughing stock that India is.
@ilyas:
"yes , india may have a sikh prime minister but there are lots of problems regarding race and ethnicities. there are riots of all kind happening every year in india. India is a country where mosques and sikh temples are targeted by the hindu extremists. india is a country where the actual muslim population are considered second class citizens."
Very clever man. Mixing lies with half truths.
@np, Have you even heard about the word "partition" and "migration" dude?
np is talking nonsense. Pakistanis have big dil, I love Pakistanis. Hindutva India committed genocide against Sikhs, and other minorities. The PM is a puppet PM, who said he is an ''Indian before a Sikh'', who puts their faith after anything, Never forget 1984. Pakistan Zindabad.
We maybe the same people 66 years back but the minute apart has changed a lot. Population of Karachi as per 1941 census was 51% Hindu and 8% Sikh. Sind was not even partitioned - so where are the Hindus and SIkhs in Karachi now? The intolerance that has killed and driven out Hindus and SIkhs turned first to Ahmadis and is slowly turned to Shias. Compare that to Hindu majority India where we have a SIkh PM, and COAS, a Muslim foreign minister, a Christian defense minister and an atheist finance minister. No comparison.