Om Puri Age

Bollywood actor Om Puri was born on 18 October 1950. He was 66 years old when he died in 2017.

Om Puri Family

Om Puri was born in Ambala in a Punjabi Hindu Khatri family. His father, Rajesh Puri, worked on the railways and in the Indian Army. When he began his schooling, his uncle chose 9 March 1950 as his “official” birthday.

Om Puri Brother

Puri came from an underprivileged background as his father was low level railway employee. When he was six years old, police put his father behind bars on allegations of theft of cement. This resulted in their family becoming homeless.

To make ends meet, Puri’s brother, Ved Prakash Puri, worked as a coolie (railway porter) and Puri worked in a local tea shop. Thereafter, to help support his family, he had to start working at the young age of seven.

He did odd jobs, worked at a neighbourhood dhaba (street side food stall), a tea stall and would bring coal from near railways tracks to support his family

Om Puri Image

Om Puri Biography

While working, Puri continued to study. After his primary education, he joined the National School of Drama in Delhi to study theatre acting.

A fellow NSD student who became a long-term friend, Naseeruddin Shah, encouraged Puri to follow him to the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.

In an interview with The Times of India, Puri later recounted his family was so poor that he did not have a decent shirt to wear when he joined FTII.

Puri married Director/writer Seema Kapoor, the sister of actor Annu Kapoor, in 1991, but their marriage ended after eight months.
In 1993, he married journalist Nandita Puri, with whom he had a son named Ishaan.

In 2009, Nandita wrote a biography of her husband titled Unlikely Hero: The Story Of Om Puri. Upon the book’s publication, Puri spoke of his anger at the inclusion of explicit details of his previous relationships.

In 2013, Nandita filed an allegation of domestic violence against him, and the two opted for a judicial separation shortly afterwards

Om Puri Actor

Puri’s first film was Chor Chor Chhup ja, a children’s film. During this time, to make ends meet he also worked at the Actors’ Studio. The future actors such as Gulshan Grover and Anil Kapoor would be his students.

Puri made his debut in the mainstream films genre in the 1976 Marathi film Ghashiram Kotwal, based on a Marathi play of the same name by Vijay Tendulkar. K Hariharan and Mani Kaul directed him in cooperation with 16 graduates of the FTII. He has claimed that he was paid “peanuts” for his best work.

Subsequently, Puri worked in numerous Indian films, as well as many films produced in the United Kingdom and the United States

Om Puri Movies

Along with Amrish Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil, he was among the main actors who starred in what was then referred to as art films such as Bhavni Bhavai (1980), Sadgati (1981), Ardh Satya (1982), Mirch Masala (1986) and Dharavi (1992).

The movie critics critically acclaimed his performances in many unconventional roles such as a victimized tribal in Aakrosh (1980); a police inspector in Ardh Satya (1982), for which he got the National Film Award for Best Actor; the leader of a cell of Sikh militants in Maachis (1996); as a tough cop again in the commercial film Gupt in 1997; and as the courageous father of a martyred soldier in Dhoop (2003).

He received critical acclaim for his performance in Govind Nihalani’s television film Tamas (1988) based on a Hindi novel of the same name.

He played comic roles in Hindi films like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro which reached a cult status. This was followed by Chachi 420 (1997), Hera Pheri (2000), Chor Machaye Shor (2002), Chup Chup Ke and Malamaal Weekly (2006).

He was regular in films directed by Priyadarshan and Kamal Haasan.

Om Puri Hollywood Movies

Puri had a cameo in the highly acclaimed film Gandhi (1982, directed by Richard Attenborough). In the mid-1990s, he diversified to play character roles in mainstream Hindi cinema. His roles are more tuned to mass audiences than film critics.

He starred in many British films such as My Son the Fanatic (1997), East Is East (1999) and The Parole Officer (2001).

He appeared in Hollywood films including City of Joy (1992), opposite Patrick Swayze; Wolf (1994) with Jack Nicholson; and The Ghost and the Darkness (1996) opposite Val Kilmer.

In 2007, he appeared as General Zia-ul-Haq in Charlie Wilson’s War, which stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.

Om Puri Death Date

On 6 January 2017, Puri died at the age of 66, after having a heart attack at his residence in Andheri, Mumbai. Bollywood honoured him at the 89th Academy Awards in memoriam segment for his contribution in Indian and world cinema.

Om Puri Funeral

His son Ishaan performed his last rites of Om Puri on January 6 evening at around 6.45 pm at the Oshiwara crematorium in Mumbai.

A small puja was performed at Puri’s house before his funeral. It was attended by all his friends from the film industry and his family. Various actors came in to pay their respects to the actor.

The pictures from funeral showed an entire film fraternity in attendance and paying the last homage to late Om Puri.

Bollywood stars like Vidya Balan, Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar, Javed Akhtar and many more were present to pay homage.

Om Puri Last Movie

At the time of his death in January 2017, he was working on the Marathi film, 15 August Bhagile 26 January.