Om Puri Etched In My Memory...

What hit me hard was the possibility of being one of the few journalists he had last spoken to, maybe.

- Rinaldo D’souza

We had been in touch with him for a feature in the issue, but somehow, the interview kept being pushed and rescheduled, he was very busy with his shooting schedule. I wasn’t supposed to interview him in the first place, Om Puri was on my colleague’s list. Somehow it came to me and excitement had kicked in. It would be my first interview with such a class actor! The interview was scheduled for the following day and I was to call Omji and throw my set of questions at him and keep my ears open as he spoke. On a couple of rings, he answered and talked to me. Gentle though he was, that baritone voice I had heard in film was somehow intimidating. He said, “Child, an interview over the phone is not something I’d like to do.” He anyway didn’t want to do a telephonic interview. He said it didn’t have the same flavour as a face-to-face interaction. He then asked me to call him a little later in the day, and I assumed that the interview would take place then. But no. I called him, and he didn’t respond. I hung up but within seconds, he called back and said he wanted to see me in person, face to face and then do the interview. Considering loomimg deadlines to submit this interview, I was a bit shaken at not having still got it. But, the opportunity of meeting an actor like Om Puri in person, was not anybody in their senses would pass up. My mind was filled with what we could talk about, as opposed to the stilted telephonic conversation I nearly had. Om ji then told me his schedule for the week and how he had various things planned. The only available time for a proper interview was amidst his shoot in Film City, where he asked me to come and meet him. The interview was then scheduled for few days late, that was the 6th of January of the New Year 2017. And I never got to meet Om Puri.