Om Puri: A life in pictures

Veteran Bollywood actor Om Puri, 66, passed away early Friday morning in Mumbai after suffering cardiac arrest.

Born on October 18, 1950, the actor made his film debut in the 1976 film Ghashiram Kotwal. He was known for his performances in Indian, as well as Pakistani and Hollywood movies.

A versatile artist, Puri became a key player in India’s arthouse cinema scene in the 1980s and 1990s but achieved international fame for his roles in Hollywood films such as City of Joy, Wolf, and Charlie Wilson’s War. Puri was also awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire). He was given the Padma Shri in 1990 for his contribution to cinema. Among Puri’s well known films were Aakrosh (1980), Ardh Satya (1982) for which he won the National Award for Best Actor, and British film East is East (1999).

Puri made a name for himself in the 1980s with the alternative art cinema that found a niche audience in India and here we pay tribute to Om Puri through a series of pictures captured throughout his life.