Remembering Om Puri: The actor’s most memorable films

Veteran actor Om Puri has passed away, he was found dead at his Mumbai house on Friday morning. He was 66. Puri’s fans and his friends from the film fraternity are shocked at the news of his demise.
The recipient of two National awards and two Filmfare Awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award, Om Puri had an illustrious film career, spanning over four decades. The actor also did some memorable roles in a number of Hollywood films like ‘City of Joy’, ‘Gandhi’, ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ and ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’. While Puri was still working on four more films, at the time of his demise; check out his most memorable films, fans can’t seem to get enough of.

Om Puri played a builder in ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’, one of the most loved comedy films of all time. The movie which featured Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor, Ravi Baswani, Satish Shah, Satish Kaushik, Bhakti Barve and Neena Gupta, was a dark satire. Addressing a range of issues like bureaucracy and corruption in politics and media, in the most hilarious manner, the film was a run of the mill comedy, loved by fans of Hindi cinema.

While Om Puri has shown his intense side in films like ‘Aakrosh’ and ‘Arohan’ and left us giggling in films like ‘Mere Baap Pehle Aap’ and ‘Hera Pheri,’ the veteran actor touched a million hearts by being the voice of Bagheera in one of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters in India, ‘The Jungle Book’.

Om Puri won his first Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for the film ‘Aakrosh’ that released in 1981. Directed by Govind Nihalani, who is currently heading the CBSE, the film was based on a true life story. Om Puri left the audience in tears as he played the quiet Lahanya Bhiku, who suffers through horrific tragedy without uttering a word. But in the end, his character takes a violent and revengeful turn, to seek justice.

Om Puri boasted of an amazing comic timing. The actor played Ballu, a local dairy-farmer, who is one of the many people vying for the local lottery ticket, in the movie. An effortless comedian, Om Puri’s transition into a local doodhwala left his fans in splits. This is one role that his fans will probably remember forever.

Om Puri stunned the moviegoers with a story of a poor farmer who suffers under a cunning and cruel landlord, amidst rising Naxalism in the 60s. The film brought home his first National Award for Best Actor, which was very well deserved.

Om Puri shared some of his best work with Smita Patil. After featuring with her in ‘Aakrosh’, he paired with her yet again in ‘Ardh Satya’. Playing a police officer in the film, Om Puri’s character struggled amidst rampant corruption in the police force. ‘Ardh Satya’ was turned down by Amitabh Bachchan because of date issues, but it went on to become a career defining role for Om Puri.