End of the ‘OM PURI’ era

New start of a fresh year and we suffer a huge loss. The veteran actor, Om Puri passed away today morning after suffering a cardiac arrest at the age of 66. He was a legend and had acted in many mainstream Indian, American, British and Pakistani movies. ‘Om’ was a big name in Bollywood and had given many hit movies in his life time.

Born in the 1950 in a small town named Ambala in Punjab, he grew up to be one of the greatest actors of his time and also is a Padma Shri award holder. Apart from these, he received many awards on national and international levels for his brilliant work in various mainstream cinemas.

He was critically acclaimed in many of his films for his extraordinary work and was awarded the National Film Award in the years 1981 and 1983. Apart from these, he had won many Filmfare awards and BAFTA award for his contribution in the movie East Is East.

He started his career from a Marathi movie named ‘Ghashiram Kotwal’ and then went on to work in many Indian regional language movies like Kannada, Punjabi, Malayam and Telugu. He also played important roles in many English movies like Code 46, The Hundred Foot Journey, A Million Rivers, Charlie Winson’s War, The Parole Officer, etc. He also acted in English television series, like the Jewel in the Crown and Second Generation.

Om was a very versatile actor and did his best in both comedy and tense roles. His remarkable contribution in movies like Mirch Masala, Ardh Satya, Arohan, Dharavi, Aakrosh, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Singh Is Kinng, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Chup Chup Ke, Tere Naal Love Hogaya, Rand De Basanti, Malamaal Weekly and many more will always be remembered. He also gave his voice in ‘The Jungle Book’ for the role of Bagheera in the dubbed Hindi version.

Many prominent names from Bollywood like Boman Irani, Shabana Azmi, Mahesh Bhatt, Priyanka Chopra etc have expressed their grief by tweeting about the legend and expressing sadness over the demise of ‘Om Puri Saab’.

His contribution to Indian cinema is and will remain legendary, so will his acting expertise. Om Puri will be missed!