The challenge of writing a biography about a living person is the need to be objective, honest and analytical, even if it at the cost of rubbing your subject up the wrong way. But if the author is the wife of the subject, then the criteria of objectivity are almost instantly compromised. In such a situation, the author might over-compensate to appear dispassionate.
Nandita Puri, wife of the acclaimed National Award winning actor, Padma Bhushan and OBE Om Puri, does just that. Unlikely Hero — Om Puri, on someone perhaps no one knows better than her after 16 years of marriage, is a simplistic collection of anecdotes with a few secrets revealed that have tantalised the tabloids. It is therefore, at best, a long journalistic piece and sadly has lost out on being of serious archival value.
The 208-page book starts off with promise — with a sincere foreword by Hollywood actor, the late Patrick Swayze who co-starred with Puri in City of Joy, and an ‘In Appreciation’ piece by his long time friend Naseeruddin Shah. The chapter, ‘Born with a Wooden Spoon’, tells of Puri’s childhood, financial and emotional struggles, the many towns he lived in and his early ambitions. Shah writes, “… Om insists his earliest ambition was becoming a soldier. The incident which moved him and a lot of his contemporaries to join the army was when soon after the 1965 war with Pakistan, over 200 army jawans marched through the streets of Ludhiana in a victory procession… He applied for the entrance but his father could not afford the training required, so his dream could not be realised.”
From Punjabi theatre to the National School of Drama and then Film and Television Institute of India, Puri dedicated himself to acting, finally moving to Bombay in 1976. Nandita writes of his days as a struggler in Bombay and includes a mention of his love affairs in almost every chapter, barring those that speak of two of his benchmark works — Ardh Satya and City of Joy. His dedication to his craft and unarguable achievements as an actor, are offset by suggestions that he was quite a Casanova. This culminates in a chapter called ‘That’s Amore’, the one section that has intrigued even those that are not fans of Om Puri following the public fracas on references to his affairs, including one with a domestic worker.
It is disconcerting to read a wife’s description of her husband’s overtures towards women, even if is it in the past, especially as the tone is very B-grade film. For instance, referring to a former girlfriend called Mala, Nandita Puri writes, “None of her roommates were around when they reached, so Om had his usual peg at her place. The alcohol gave him further courage and he embraced her. And thus their long relationship took off.” She then writes an entire chapter on her courtship with Om, their marriage following his acrimonious divorce, a dog called Jackie and the birth of their son.
One misses discussions with Om Puri’s directors, examination of his craft, spotlighting of other benchmark movies like Aakrosh, Sparsh, Tamas, Chachi 420, Maqbool and East Is East to name a few. Brief paragraphs cover some of these in a chapter authored by Om Puri called ‘Let’s Go to the Movies’ where he picks a few of his top films from a career spanning over three decades and over 200 films.
This Rs-395 book also disappoints visually. The quality of production, the selection of images and reprinting of the images are flat. The publishers, Roli Books, appear to have put in little effort in photo research with as many stills from films as pictures of Om and Nandita Puri together. You would not mind if the text transported you, educated you, offered insights and trivia that a film buff could dine out on, instead you notice clumsy typos and simple language. The narrative flows like a long interview strung together by Om Puri’s memories and quotes from his colleagues. It reads more like a long cover story in a glossy film magazine than a book with documentary value.
It is remarkable that Om Puri achieved so much against the odds. That a man who could not speak English properly and had to teach himself in order to make it in Bombay went on to get an OBE from the Queen of England. “One just cannot earmark a film as merely art or commercial. The choice is between a good or a bad film,” Om Puri writes in the chapter ‘Overview of Indian Cinema’. With chapters by their son Ishaan, besides Om and Nandita, this is very much a family enterprise — affectionate, honest and personal. This book might appeal to fans of Om Puri but will disappoint academics and writers on Indian cinema. But the one thing Unlikely Hero does is make you want to watch Ardh Satya again.
— uditaj@gmail.com