Thursday 20 December 2012

Encounter with Om Puri and Divya Dutta, Delhi, Published in Jagran Cityplus, Delhi

Encounter with Om Puri and Divya Dutta, Delhi, Published in Jagran Cityplus, Delhi





Back to the beginning    
After long and eventful journey in cinema, Om Puri is back to where he started. Well, quite literally. The veteran actor is making a comeback to where he all began decades ago – theatre.

Just one day before his comeback Punjabi play, Teri Amrita, was staged in Delhi, the media fraternity gathered at press club for an informal interaction with the actor. I was one of those lucky few.

A return to an intense medium like theatre after more than two decades can give jitters to anybody. And that includes even Om Puri, considered one of the few complete ‘actors’ in Indian cinema and who started his career with theatre.

“Yes, I am nervous like a swimmer who has seen water after many years. That is the reason I chose a simple play with a lot of emotions and a Punjabi play because it is my mother tongue,” he is frank enough to admit.

“First, the focus is on Amrita (the female lead) and then it fades and comes on me (Zulfi).”

Divya Dutta, who is playing the female lead in the play directed by Om Puri himself, was present to promote their venture.

Sharing her experience and feeling on being able to work with Om Puri, Divya says, “I always knew Om Puriji as an actor. And working under him as a director and co-actor was a double treat. Each individual perceives things differently. I remember after I enacted one of my scenes, Om Puriji also enacted the same scene for me and we were in tears.”

Theatre, Om Puri feels, has evolved a lot compared to 25 years back, and so has the audience. “Theatre is growing. Before, it was like why buy a ticket to watch a play? It’ll be good if passes can be arranged. But now things have changed. Theatre is like classical music.”

He says plays should be made in the language which people understand. “How many people will come if a play is made in Sanskrit?”

What brings him back to theatre after so many years? “My grey hair,” he says with a smile.

Character actors are seldom given meaty roles and this is one reason he has strayed away from cinema. “I have stopped doing whichever films came my way. I had done a lot of them in the past to fulfil life’s necessities. I remember, I got Rs 9,000 for Aakrosh and Rs 25,000 for Ardh Satya.”

Asked about his favourite theatre director, he names Ibrahim Alkazi, his first guru. “I was honoured when we received the guru shishya award from a news channel.”

Om Puri gets nostalgic when he recalls his journey. “My theatre journey began as a teenager when I was spotted by a director of Punjab Kala Manch during a college play. I got the best actor award and he asked me to join him. When I told him I work as a lab assistant in my college and get Rs 125 monthly, he offered me Rs 150. I went with him and learnt the nuances of acting.”

Puri also lists Shyam Benegal as one of his favourite directors, saying, “He is like encyclopaedia to me.”

As we all know, Om Puri acted in films, television and theatre and so I was curious to ask him what was his first love? And the reply is very prompt, Doordarshan. “I acted in a television series ‘Tamas’. In one night, one crore people watched it together. It became popular overnight and people used to wait for that programme. Doordarshan has the maximum reach even in rural areas, the real India.”

Shifting the focus to present day films, he feels even though Indian cinema has come a long way, there is a vast scope for improvement on the technical side. “We have a lot to do to meet international standards. But, yes, nowadays NSD pass-outs get a lot of respect in the film industry. During our times, people hardly knew about NSD, not even in Mumbai.”

Doing serious roles for decades, Om Puri generally comes across as a serious personality. But there’s lighter side to him too. Sharing a funny experience with his friend and NSD classmate Naseeruddin Shah, he recalls: “We both were stupid. We thought why should we learn dance and music when we were actors? Maybe, we did not understand that music helps in developing voice variation. Finally, when exam day came we were asked to perform a Punjabi song together and the end result was we scored 17 out of 50.”

He is quick to defend his friend on his controversial remarks. “Once, a journalist asked me to comment on Naseeruddin’s comment that he regrets doing art films. I explained that he says something and wants to say something else. We are recognised because of art films. Otherwise, with such looks we would have got negligible roles like standing behind the main villains as his henchmen.”

He also goes on the defensive when asked to comment on the controversial remarks he had made at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi during Anna Hazare’s protest, where he had referred to politicians as “gawars” and “nalayaks”. “I didn’t say anything wrong. May be, the way I said it was not appropriate. I will be careful with the choice of words in the future.”

Puri has a lot of expectations from the play. “We want not only theatre aficionados but also others come and happily buy tickets and enjoy our play.”

After devoting so many years in acting, any plans to teach young talent? “We have Majma Theatre Group that gives chance to talented people. But I am not going to open any school.”

Om Puri has done a lot of political comedies and so did the thought of becoming a neta ever come to his mind and if so did he ever try? The veteran actor replies wittingly: “Never got the opportunity. But I would never begged for any role in politics, nevertheless.”

Turning on a more serious note, he says every person has his/her own contribution to society but there are more who are out to destroy than to preserve.
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