Om Puri

Om Prakash Puri, (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Bengali, Kannada, English, Punjabi, Gujarati, Telugu, and Marathi films, as well as independent and art films and also starred in several international cinema. He is widely regarded as one of the finest actors in world cinema. He won two National Film Awards for Best Actor, two Filmfare Awards and India's fourth highest civilian award Padma Shri in 1990. In 2004, he was made an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire. He is best known for his author-backed roles in films like Aakrosh (1980), Arohan (1982), Ardh Satya (1983), television films like Sadgati (1981) and Tamas (1987), light-hearted roles in Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983) and Chachi 420 (1997) and several mainstream commercial films throughout his career. He had various collaborations with director Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani. Puri also appeared in non-Indian productions in the United States, Pakistan and Britain. In the 1990s, he appeared in My Son the Fanatic (1997) and the comedy drama East Is East (1999), receiving a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Early life Puri was born to a Punjabi Hindu Family in Ambala. His father, Tek Chand Puri, worked on the railways and in the Indian Army. Puri's parents received no birth certificate and had no records, so his family was unsure of his birth date. But his mother told him he had been born two days after the Hindu festival Dussehra. When he began his schooling, his uncle chose 9 March 1950 as his "official" birthday. However, as an adult when he moved to Mumbai, Puri looked up when Dussehra was celebrated in 1950, to establish his birth date as 18 October. Puri came from an underprivileged background. When he was six years old, his father who was a railway employee was put 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, did odd jobs and collected coal from nearby railways tracks to support his family. He and his brother's children were later brought up by a maid servant, Shanti. While working, Puri continued to study. After his primary education, he joined the National School of Drama in Delhi to study theatre acting.