Sudhir Mishra remembers working with Om Puri: ‘He was tough, generous guy who would lose it if I shot after midnight’

Some of filmmaker Sudhir Mishra‘s tales have been set within the night time however actor Om Puri by no means preferred capturing put up midnight. Naturally, when the duo labored within the acclaimed 1991 traditional Dharavi, there have been fireworks.

Sudhir Mishra has opened up about his expertise of working with Om Puri and recalled how the legend, who handed away in 2017, was an extremely giving actor who would cease at nothing to present a very good shot– even when it was on the expense of his discomfort.

In an interview with Unfiltered By Samdish, the director stated he first collaborated with Om Puri on the 1983 cult Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, the place Sudhir Mishra was a author and an assistant director.

Om Puri was an necessary determine of the parallel cinema motion of the 80s. (Photo: Express Archive)

“I worked with Om Puri when I made my third film, I was a young man. I had worked with him as an assistant in Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron and then in 1991 I worked with him (as a director). He was a big guy. He was so graceful, generous. None of these guys were easy. When one says, ‘he was graceful’, it is almost as if they were boring people. Like everyone who talks about Irrfan these days sounds like he was a boring person. He was not. Those were wonderful, ambitious, complicated times. There was a need for money, good work. It was difficult.”

Mishra stated Puri’s craft was so sturdy, he would incorporate final minute suggestion with a outstanding ease. His expertise, Mishra recalled, went past his efficiency on-screen as he was additionally technically sound.

Om Puri had featured in a number of acclaimed movies like Aakrosh, Ardh Satya, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro and Chachi 420 amongst others. (Photo: Express Archive)

“You could tell anything to him, he was graceful, technically perfect. You could provoke him the last moment and it would be there in the shot. If I’d say, ‘Puri sahab, ek aisa khayal aaya hai’, he would do that on screen. If there was no tripod and you’d request him to spread his legs and stand and then give close ups, he would do that. He was so technically (sound),” Mishra stated, who final helmed Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer Serious Men.

The filmmaker, nevertheless, stated if there was one factor that Puri was not okay with, have been night time shoots. “Puri sahab was a tough guy often. He would lose it if you shot after 12 in the night. ‘Kya hai yaar? Chal… leave it,’ he would say. He would be angry but would say, ‘Chal ghar pe, I’ll feed you bhindi.’ My films are mostly set in night, so he would get angry!”

Mishra stated as soon as Puri even joked that he would by no means work with him once more because the filmmaker goes to excessive lengths to get the shot that he requires. Dharavai, which gained the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi, was the final collaboration of Puri and Mishra.

“Sometimes you go on and on, make them do difficult things. Like I had placed two cameras in separate vans on the road and asked him to run, stop at markers, then turn, then run again and repeat this four times. He would do it, but if someone is running in heat with slippers on, by the third or fourth time he is bound to get irritated. He would say, ‘Tere saath nahi karuga ab aagey, tu bohot zyada karta hai (I won’t work with you anymore, you go to extremes). He was senior also to me,” the filmmaker said.

Mishra stated the explanation why he couldn’t work with the actor lots is as a result of he believed in casting new actors and never go for safer choices like Naseeruddin Shah or Om Puri. “If everyone works with them, their films will start looking the same. If Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi had the same cast, what would be the difference between my films and that of Shyam Benegal?”