Disney’s The Hundred-Foot Journey has been eagerly anticipated. Produced by three illustrious names, Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Juliet Blake, it is directed by renowned Oscar winner Lasse Hallström, has music by maestro A.R. Rahman, and stars Helen Mirren and our own Om Puri.
A day before the film’s premiere in New York, the prestigious Museum of the Moving Image had a special screening of The Hundred-Foot Journey with a well-deserved tribute to the inimitable Om Puri. The noted actor has acted in over 250 films, including Ardh Satya, East is East, My Son the Fanatic, and Mirch Masala. After a clip showing some of his most memorable films, he had a relaxed on-stage conversation with noted actor and culinary authority Madhur Jaffrey, who brought the worlds of cuisine and cinema together. Though probably not by design, both were in black; Om Puri in a loose black Pathan suit that highlighted his head of silver hair.
For the packed hall of Indian and American movie-goers, it was like sitting in on a personal conversation, as the two noted actors discussed everything from food to theatre to cinema. Asked Jaffrey: “The film, as you know, is about food and being who I am, my first question to you is do you cook and if you do, what do you cook?”
Retorted Puri, “I do cook reasonably well — but not like you! I mostly cook vegetarian food. I grew up as a vegetarian but now I’m a fishi-tarian.”
“You had wanted to join the army; how did you get into acting?” asked Jaffrey and the audience was treated to the tale of Puri’s growing up. He worked mornings and studied in the evenings. While in college in the 60s, he participated in some theatre festivals, where a couple offered him a full-time job in their theatre group for Rs. 150. He recalled, “I was born in a modest family and when I started doing plays that were socially relevant, it gave voice to my feelings. Plus the claps of the audience — you get used to it and you get hooked to it.”
Om recalled with pride his three years at the National School of Drama in Delhi with its tough training, exposure to world theatre, and the opportunities to perform before live audiences. He said, “Slowly NSD has became a brand and we have over a 100 actors in Bollywood who have graduated from there.”
He recalled that Naseeruddin Shah and he were in the same batch. Neither had any illusions about becoming Bollywood heroes. “We didn’t have the kind of looks the Hindi film industry wanted. Fat noses have no place there! It’s not so in the West; otherwise Anthony Quinn would have never made it!”
About The Hundred-Foot Journey, in which he plays Papa Kadam, he said, “This is a very pleasant film; there are no guns and no stunts, no lies, no technical lies — men flying, heroes flying, bashing 30 people all alone, none of that is there. There are a lot of emotions, there’s a lot of fun and humour. Food is a character in the film. It’s a warm film.”
(The writer is a New York-based journalist for several international publications and blogs at Lassi with Lavina)
