For somebody who has a storehouse of films to showcase his talent – Ardh Satya, Aakrosh, Bhumika, Gandhi and more recently – Patiala House and Teen Thay Bhai – Om Puri confesses that he does not enjoy the process of filmmaking any more!
“The quality of films in Bollywood has only gone down.” Puri finds the present day films about unbelievable characters. “How can you give away crores of money to an actor because he has achieved star status?”
Puri admits that he “is not a rich actor. If I got stuck with my ideas, how would I survive?” Puri agrees to good cinema being churned out by filmmakers like Vishal Bhardwaj, Dibakar Banerjee, and Ashutosh Govariker with the only difference being “that the actor in those films is replaced by a star who is highly saleable. For a film like Sarkar, Mr Bachchan’s role could have been essayed by me or Naseruddin Shah but Mr Bachchan has a wider reach so he was chosen. I think the onus of producing good cinema lies in the hands of Shah Rukh Khans, Aamirs and Akshays of Bollywood. They have the power.” Puri managed to grab critical acclaim for his portrayals in popular telly shows. He says, “TV is a great example of how everything sells today. Bad content, bad scripts and bad actors.”
On a parting note, we ask him if Bollywood has any lessons to be learnt and he says, “The cinema of the 60s and 70s was socially relevant and entertaining. I am hoping that we would have someone like Bimal Roy and Mehboob Khan to make films.”
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