NGUPLUS

Has anyone heard of a movie named Gandhigiri? Chances are many haven’t yet. Do you know who the lead actor of the movie is? It’s none other than Om Puri. Any guesses about the release date of the film? It’s October 21.

Now Om Puri is a professionally trained theatre actor and a mighty good one indeed. In fact, a National award winner if I may add. And looking at his current antics, it won’t be too far-fetched to hazard a guess that this terrific actor may have delivered one of his finest acting performances yet again albeit on news channels this time bewildering the nation into believing his outbursts and hysteria on screen were for real.

When reports of Om Puri having spoken out in favour of Pakistani actors first emerged around September 27, my interest was piqued. I was keen to know where Puri had spoken out as Twitter and other social media platforms are not quite used by him to opinionate. A quick search revealed that the first statement airing his views supporting Pakistani actors was made in Lucknow while touring the city to promote Gandhigiri. Another story about Puri appeared on the same day in a tabloid suggesting how the actor was apparently involved in a scuffle with a scribe in the city after the latter quizzed him about his personal life. Good controversial stories to keep the film buzzing in which Puri plays the lead, I thought.       

A few days later Puri exploded (perhaps he was not happy with the tepid response his earlier pro-Pak actors opinion met with) and one saw his face plastered on news channels both from English to Hindi ones. For someone who is not exactly a dial-a-quote celebrity à la Mahesh Bhatt or as outspoken as an Anurag Kashyap and chooses to lead the life of a recluse unless he has a film to promote, here was Om Puri appearing on different channels all geared up to take the bull by the horns. Just that this time, he chose the side that he knew would grab maximum eyeballs and keep him controversially trending from prime time to super prime time. Unfortunately, it was not exactly an amusing sight to watch as a charged up, venom spewing, highly animated Padma Shri Om Puri threw caution to the wind and took on anchors arguing and fighting with them in the highest decibels that his baritone could afford. And just when one thought he would hold on to his stance with a trademark flourish irrespective of the severe backlash, in came his meek apology.