A Conversation with Om Puri

Dara: Thanks for posting a very informative piece. I never knew Ludhiana to be the most prosperous Punjabi city. I would have guessed Chandigarh. Famous poet Sahir Ludhianvi must be turning in his grave for the success of capitalism in his hometown.

tahmed,

Ompuri is really a great actor. Give him another chance to convince you. Rent out Ardha Satya (Half truth?) if you can find time.

Some people here think I am blaming Om Puri for ``accurately portraying`` some director`s character.

To that, I have this to say:

South east Asians actors/actresses (Indian or Pakistani) should not accept stereotypical roles just to satisfy the Hollywood/Popular media agenda, no matter what the director says or who he is.

Om Puri`s artsy movies made in India were much muchhhh better and representative of desi culture and problems.

Why settle for less just to gain popularity within the West?

Yes, he`s not very selective at all of his roles lately.

Some people seem to be `blaming` Om Puri for playing a derogatory stereotype. If anyone is to blame, should it not be Hanif Kureishi for shaping the characters? If anything, poor Mr. Puri is to be accused of accurately portraying the characters written by Mr. Kureishi!

Anyway.... Didn`t realize Aakrosh was his first movie. That was a great flick! Naseer plays an idealist and Om an exploited villager. Except for a blood-curdling scream in the climax of the film, Om`s character doesn`t say a word.

Regardless of what Naseer says these days.... despite eventually getting caught up in itself the art cinema movement produced some pretty cool stuff.

Latif Chappu.

P.S: I guess if as a Pakistani, one is offended by Om`s characters in EIE and MSTF, one could hope that he would have rejected those roles. But if Om`s gonna work for Nagesh Kookunoor (Hydrabad Blues - a horrible, amateurish, poorly made film), he is obviously not very selective.

Some people seem to be `blaming` Om Puri for playing a derogatory stereotype. If anyone is to blame, should it not be Hanif Kureishi for shaping the characters? If anything, poor Mr. Puri is to be accused of accurately portraying the characters written by Mr. Kureishi!

Anyway.... Didn`t realize Aakrosh was his first movie. That was a great flick! Naseer plays an idealist and Om an exploited villager. Except for a blood-curdling scream in the climax of the film, Om`s character doesn`t say a word.

Regardless of what Naseer says these days.... despite eventually getting caught up in itself the art cinema movement produced some pretty cool stuff.

Latif Chappu.

P.S: I guess if as a Pakistani, one is offended by Om`s characters in EIE and MSTF, one could hope that he would have rejected those roles. But if Om`s gonna work for Nagesh Kookunoor (Hydrabad Blues - a horrible, amateurish, poorly made film), he is obviously not very selective.

Zeemax: I am familiar with www.sadapunjab.com and visit it when feel like listening to old Punjabi songs, particularly of Shamshad Begum and Rafi. The E-Magazine is pretty good. My point is that if people belonging to the same culture do not show interest in the goodwill of their ``co-ethnics``, an easing of tension between the two countries will remain an elusive matter.

A Gnostic does post replies once in a while but he is justly frustrated by the discussions going in circles. I hope he is doing well and visiting chowk once in a while.

Dulla Bhatti: I do not belong in that elite club. You are too kind in appreciation. I recently watched a punjabi movie, ``Khalsa......``, and could not believe seeing Ayesha Jhulka speaking perfect punjabi....SSA

Re: Tahmed321 #5

Tahmed, I saw the two movies that you mentioned, and I did not like them either. However, Puri is still a good actor (I don`t blame him for the two movies, I blame the director). You may have a better impression of the man if you ever get to watch Aakrosh -- it won the 1981 Golden Peacock award -- I think it is one of India`s highest awards for serious films. The film and Puri had a deep impression on me. I was 20 years younger, and was still ignorant of village/tribal reality in the deep interior, rural, tribal India. Puri played the role of a disposessed tribal at the mercy of the local, two-bit bureaucrats, and the landlords. Try to rent the film -- I think that you will like it. It may be hard to get, but you could try www.netflix.com.

Also, there is an audio interview of Om Puri at

http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/fa/20000406.fa.ram

While you are it, you may find the interview with Writer Manil Suri. He’s just published his first novel The Death of Vishnu (W.W. Norton 2001). The book follows the lives of the many inhabitants of a Bombay apartment building--including Vishnu, the homeless man who lives in the building’s stairwell. Based on the writer’s childhood in Bombay, the book has met praise from critics for its inclusion of Hindu mythology and cinema. When not writing, Mr. Suri is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Maryland:

http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/fa/20010205.fa.01.ram

Why go after hand-to-mouth FP staff when we could all go after these Punjabis! I am so jealous :)

http://www.india-today.com/itoday/20010205/business.shtml

BUSINESS: LUDHIANA

Puppy Paradise

Lifestyles in Punjab`s richest city could put big spenders in the country`s metros to shame

By Malini Goyal



PARTY TIME: The Bectors, Cremica Agro-Foods

The Bector family loves to party, as do their peers in the city. It is normal to spend up to Rs 25 lakh on one bash.

This was no royal wedding. But preparations were no less grand. A stadium for the milni ceremony; 35 Cielo cars lined up to be given away as gifts; flowers worth a couple of lakhs flown in for decoration; Kumar Sanu performing. Mumbai would have stopped for such a wedding. Delhi`s jaws would have dropped. But in Ludhiana, the marriage of Kamal Oswal-of Monte Carlo fame-was just another wedding.

The morning after. Cut to the university grounds in the city where the rich joggers foot it out. Parked outside its gates are the latest on four wheels-Pajeros, Mercs, LandCrusiers, Hondas. If jogger mobility is a barometer of a city`s wealth, then Ludhiana sure is loaded.

Rave parties, rain dances, celebrity nights, impromptu barbecues-nights are happening here, weekends full of surprises. Every festival is grand, every occasion a reason to celebrate. Party talk veers around the latest in Mercs and BMWs. Call them flashy, call them show-offs. Call them hardworking men who know how to enjoy life. From driving rickshaws to running a bicycle company, Ludhiana is full of Puppies-Punjabi upwardly mobile professionals. Their enterprise has brought to Ludhiana wealth that this city is strutting.

Don`t let the potholed roads or shanties fool you. Ludhiana netted the highest number of tax assessees (1.06 lakh) under the Government`s economic criteria guidelines. It has the highest per capita cars in India. Expensive brands like Rado and Bose have many takers here. The rich here spend Rs 50-100 crore during Diwali gambling. The wealth is visible-in palatial houses and pools, jacuzzis and home theatre systems. Enough to make Citibank and ABN Amro open full-fledged branches. Children here go to Doon, Sherwood and Sanawar. Vineet Adya, scion of a hosiery exporting family, echoes the mood here: ``I do not believe in stacking up cash. Those who don`t spend don`t have a heart.`` Adya himself is fond of cars and his latest acquisition is an S-class Merc.



REVVING IT UP

VINEET ADYA, RB Knit With a BMW and an S-Class Mercedes, Adya is not out of place in a city crawling with over 200 imported luxury cars

While in terms of wealth, Ludhiana is comparable to many other cities, it is the free-spending nature of its people that sets it apart. Says S.P. Oswal, chairman of the Rs 1,800-crore Vardhman Group: ``Punjabis are by nature ostentatious and show off more than what they may have.`` Says Ajay Bector of Cremica Agro Foods, a confectionery company: ``There is a race to be better than others.`` From the most talked about party to the most expensive dress, their mind constantly wanders to achieve such superlatives. So you have Jagjit Singh-beating Daler Mehndi night, a Mercedes one-upping the Lancer in this never-ending game.

Wonder where all this money comes from? Ludhiana has taken advantage of liberalisation. As the economy gathered speed, Ludhiana followed in its slipstream and has been ramping up its industrial capacity. The city has traditionally been a hub of industrial activity with textile mills, hosiery plants, bicycle and auto-ancillary companies. It produces over 80 per cent of India`s acrylic fibres, 65-70 per cent of its bicycles and components and 90 per cent of domestic winter wear. There are as many as 42,247 small-scale industries and 160 big industries (investment above Rs 1 crore) employing over 3.2 lakh workers.

There are other reasons for Ludhiana`s prosperity-some geographical, others strategic. Just five hours from Delhi, it provides all the basic ingredients for industry to grow and flourish. The city has ample raw materials, enough migrant workers and virtually no labour problem. Moreover, when terrorism took a heavy toll of business in places like Amritsar, many successful businessmen shifted base to Ludhiana.

``There is genuine entrepreneurship coupled with opportunity,`` says Oswal. Hardworking people who are risk taking, receptive to new ideas and who are ready to learn and adapt make all the difference. Then there is the cluster advantage-one industry feeding another. A hosiery unit needs raw materials like fabric, wool, buttons, chains, spinning yarns and so on. ``You are not alone. You have a group progressing with you,`` says Jaswinder Bhogal of the Bhogal Group that manufactures bicycles. When the Bhogals got into bicycle manufacturing, their relatives set up bicycle component units. ``Punjabis have a good understanding of the Indian system,`` says Rajinder Gupta, managing director of the Rs 600-crore Trident Group.

In this self-evolving interdependent processes, businesses go boom and bust hand-in-hand. The Russian trade crisis saw scores of companies vanish overnight. But despite such setbacks, businessmen here have learnt to quickly shift track and change business with the changing times. For instance, Pran Arora of Ritesh Industries used to run a vanaspati plant but now has got into the more successful hosiery business. Gupta, who started with a small chemicals unit, today has diversified into paper, chemicals and yarn. ``The more the value addition, the more you have to play around with,`` says Gupta.

Despite flourishing businesses, most of the enterprises in Ludhiana are small and mid-level. Only a few like the Munjals, Oswals, Mittals, Bhogals and Gupta have made it big. While the Mittals` Bharti Group has shifted base to Delhi, the Munjals have shifted a major part of their business to the capital. What is it that inhibits the growth of big enterprises? One, the very nature of industry limits them. Hosiery units cater to the fast-changing fashion industry which has a high turnover. Hence, size is a big deterrent. Second, the city is not a good place to attract talent, admits Oswal.

Third, and perhaps most important, most businesses here are family-run. Professionalism is at a premium, business deals are still not transparent and prosperity has not trickled down. Migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar comprising over 30 per cent of the city`s population earn about Rs 2,500 a month. Shanty dwellings, ill-maintained shopfloors and lack of basic facilities blight the affluence. Says a local industrialist: ``The companies haven`t bothered to invest in basic facilities for their workers. They want civic services but don`t want to pay for them.`` No wonder the prosperous clusters are scarred by islands of poverty.

Also as B.M. Munjal, chairman, Hero Group and a giant among Ludhiana industrialists, points out, ``While there is a large number of users of civic infrastructure, the number of those paying tax to the municipal corporation is low.``

For now the absence of trickle down doesn`t seem to bother Ludhiana`s rich who are too busy earning their wealth and spending it.

REPORT CARD: HINDUSTANI PERFORMANCE IN KASHMIR IN YEAR 2000

Following is the report card representing the performance of Hindu-stani Government in Kashmir for the year 2000. I take this moment to make an appeal to all the good people with good conscience in the world to voice against this genocide of Kashmiri people. I would also request all decent Hindus to act and stop the rabid actions of their government. It is just a matter of time when all of those who committed atrocities will be dragged in front of International Court of Justice. But before that they will have to answer to the Kashmiri people. Now that when practically each and every household has suffered at the hands of rabid Hindus, it is time that all of those with live conscience should wake up. The time to act is now:

Report Card for year 2000:

Kashmiris who gave their lives for their motherland
3401 (ave. 283/mo)

Deaths/Shahadats in Army/Police Custody
363 (30/mo)

Wounded
3844 (320/mo)

Arrested
3058 (254/mo)

Rapes by Hindu Army and police
281 (23/ mo)

Property Damaged (number)
1604 (133/mo)

A month by month breakdown is available at following site:

http://www.jang-group.com/jang/index.html

I would request all people with live conscience who value human life, to forward this link and the figures to your human rights organization.

Thank you.

Sameer,

Where`s A Gnostic ? Are you in touch with him ?

Sameer,

[Only then a possibility of economic relations of some form possible with India, which has to be preceded by a very cordially relationship between two Punjabs. Otherwise it will not work!!!! ]

Check out Jasveer Bhaji`s site on www.sadapunjab.com

Provides the answer to you question.

Rgds

I wish you had asked Om Puri why he chooses to act as a close-minded Pakistani whose ugly temper and foul language match Mr. Puri`s ugly face. I have seen two of his movies where he acted as a Pakistani, and after both I regretted spending the time and money to watch this guy. I think the films he has acted in are vastly over-rated by the Western critics and unduly praised by Pakistani movie-goers.

If it were not for Om Puris, Zeemaxs, Sameers, Illiyas Ghummans, Asif Shahkars, and aah my maama Afzal Randhawa(Does anyone know of the last three?).....I would have let go of Pakistan and India to the reham of Jihadis and ``Phasaadis``@TM(TradeMark of DB:-)). but..but..

the wisdom of sabziwala!!!...he is so right.

Om Puri is one great actor.
Loved ``Fanatic`` but did not care much for
``East is East``.

Ras

Om Puri is a very good artist. One should watch his old Punjabi movies like Chan Pardesi and Long Da lashkara and many hindi art movies of 10-20 years ago. Unfortunately these movies did not get cited in this interview.

I watched a new movie Zubeida by Shyam Benegal and was very disappointed. Good hindi movies have been rare these days.

Zeemax: Good to see you back. At this stage actually India may not be intersested in any form of economic union with poorly performing economies otherwise they could have had economic union with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal excluding Pakistan. Pakistan was more interested in economic union with Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics but without Iran and Turkey, it will be a poor man`s club. Besides, Central Asian republics are not happy with Pakistan due to Afghanistan policy. Pakistan has to come out of economic doldrums before any country, corporation or individual investors will consider dealing with it. At this stage, a normal relationship will be no less than a miracle.

India is more interested in India, BD more interested in BD, Sri Lanka more interested in Sri Lanka and Pakistan is more interested in Islam than Pakistan. Pakistan has to be interested in Pakistan much more than other things. Only then a possibility of economic relations of some form possible with India, which has to be preceded by a very cordially relationship between two Punjabs. Otherwise it will not work!!!!

Saniya,

I`m still pushing re-unification in the form of an economic community between India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh. The vegetable seller in Southhall agrees with me.

Do convey if possible to Mr. Om Puri that we`re all brothers and sisters, though divided by history.

Rgds.

Zeemax