Om Puri the great Bollywood actor has passed away today at the age of 66 in Mumbai. He died due to a massive heart attack early this morning as the Indian Express reports.
The death was first announced by his close friend and filmmaker Ashoke Pandit through his tweet. It said that the versatile actor is no more with us and that he was in a deep state of shock. The Times of India reports that he returned home from his shoot last evening but never opened the door the next day. His driver then raised an alarm as his body was taken for postmortem to Cooper Hospital. His funeral is due at 6pm today according to her colleague and friend, Shabana Azmi’s tweet.
His life
Om Puri has been a tremendous actor of not only the Bollywood cinema. He also worked in Pakistani movie Actor In Law last year while he was a true supported of the Pak-India collaborations. Puri used to visit Pakistan often besides his literary festival visits as well. The actor spoke of his pampered experience while working in Pakistan for Actor In Law. This veteran loved to reply to ‘salaams’ day and night and the many dinner parties thrown for him too. Of course he also loved it when everyone wanted a selfie with him. Speaking of the delicate situation between the two countries, he was often shocked. It was because he had known Pakistanis abroad through his Pakistani characters in British Hollywood movies. His last movie was Yeh Hai Lollipop by Manoj Sharma. After his death, Twitter swarmed with condolences all over.
Born on 18th October, 1950, Om Prakesh Puri was an amazing Indian actor best known for many author-backed roles. Besides this, he also worked in television movies and light-hearted roles. The fourth-highest civilian award of India, namely Padma Shri awrd was also given to him. In 2004, he was also made the honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Belonging to a Punjabi family, his father was in the Indian Army while his debut was a 1976 Marathi film. Thus, Marathi, Indian and scores of others produced in UK and USA have been a part of his glorious career.
