Om Puri Movies
Described as "the finest actor of the post-independence generation" by one expert on the Indian cinema, Om Puri is one of India's most respected and prolific screen personalities, having appeared in over 140 films over the course of his career. Thanks to starring work in such films as My Son the Fanatic and East Is East, Puri has also earned increasing recognition among a Western audience, further establishing himself as an actor of great range and versatility.Born in a rural area of northern India in 1950, Puri grew up planning to be a military man like his father. His ambitions shifted when, as a student at a Punjabi university, he joined a theatre group. With the support of his parents, Puri studied acting for three years at the National School of Drama in New Delhi, where he performed in a wide variety of works ranging from Indian folk plays to Kabuki drama to Shakespeare, the last of which gave him the opportunity to play Hamlet in Hindi. The actor followed his studies with a stint at the Indian Film Institute in Poona and then decided to try his luck in Bombay, India's film capital. Although he lacked the classically handsome features of most Indian film stars, Puri was able to find work based on the strength of his previous theatre experience. Once he began appearing on the screen, he found himself in great demand thanks in large part to his seemingly limitless versatility, and he became established over the years as one of his country's best-known actors.
After a starring role in Satyajit Ray's Sadgati (1981), which cast him as a member of India's caste of untouchables, Puri began attracting the notice of Western filmmakers. He appeared in Gandhi (1982), Wolf (1994), and City of Joy (1992), the last of which cast him as Patrick Swayze's unlikely savior. He had his greatest international success to date as the star of My Son the Fanatic (1997), a British satirical comedy written by Hanif Kureshi. As Parvez, a liberal-minded Pakistani taxi driver living in northern England who cannot understand his son's sudden alliance with a group of Islamic fundamentalists, Puri turned in a vivid, wryly-nuanced performance that many critics deemed as one of the year's best. The following year, he earned another lavish dose of acclaim for his portrayal of George Khan, another Pakistani patriarch living in England in East Is East. Where Puri's previous character had been laid-back and open-minded, Khan was rigid and conservative (despite his untraditional marriage to an English woman), and critics and audiences alike marveled at the actor's capacity for carving such distinctive characterizations from a superficially similar mold. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Released in India as Aakrosh, Cry of the Wounded is reportedly based on an actual government coverup. Idealistic attorney Naseeruddin Shah takes as his first client a man accused of murdering his wife. The accused is a political activist, and after a while it seems apparent that the prosecution is pursuing the case at the command of the Indian government. Shah himself falls victim to coercion and outright threats while preparing his defense. The political issue becomes a moral one when the accused, on furlough from jail to attend the death of his father, kills his own sister for complex reasons of honor. Now Shah must ponder whether it's worth getting his client off from the first murder charge when he will obviously be condemned for the second killing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, (more)
- 1986
This is an intriguing political drama about competing unions and ideologies in one factory in India. Verma (Om Puri) is a Communist who leads one union and is willing to negotiate with the factory's management to attain the union's goals. His opponent leads the other union and resorts to violence, threats, and intimidation to increase his membership and frighten the managers. Verma is beset by many problems as he tries to maintain his union's superiority, handle sticky situations that arise during work (including injuries on the job), and fight off the immoral tactics of his brutal nemesis. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1983
A police drama is a rare film for 1980s Indian cinema, and a successful police drama with a bit of a moral is even rarer -- which makes this film by Govind Nihalani an unusual item. Anant Welankar (Om Puri) is an ethically strait-laced Bombay police officer who reluctantly joined the force at his father's instigation -- his father had been a career policeman. Once working in the precinct, Anant learns about bribery -- it seems that Rama Shetty (Sadashiv Amrapurkar), a well-known political aspirant known to be involved in a murder, has several of the police officers in his back pocket. Anant finds himself caught between the police violence and bribery on the one hand, and his desire to fulfill his duties to the letter on the other. In one unhappy moment, he is carried away by his fury against immorality during an interrogation and beats a prisoner so badly that the man dies. Stricken and yet unwilling to simply accept his suspension, Anant has to either hew to his own conscience and face the consequences, or ask for help from the notorious Rama Shetty -- a difficult decision when one's future hangs in the balance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Om Puri, Smita Patil, (more)
A woman is uncertain of what path to take when she loses the love of her life in this romantic drama from India. Avi (Salman Khan) is a bright and ambitious young man who, after completing his education in the United States, comes home to take his place in the successful business run by his father, Balraaj Kapoor (Amitabh Bachchan). Avi meets a beautiful young artist named Millie (Rani Mukherjee) and the two fall in love. They wed, give birth to a son, and are enjoying their lives with their new family when Avi is suddenly killed in an auto accident. Millie is emotionally shattered by Avi's death and she is uncertain about what to do next. Balraaj believes his daughter-in-law needs to remarry and start life over again; he knows that Millie's friend Rajat (John Abraham), a musician, has long had feelings for her, and he tries to bring the two of two of them together. But Millie must decide if she's ready for a new love while her life with Avi is still fresh in her mind. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, (more)
- 1980
This charming fable in the genre of New Indian Cinema brings up the issue of the Indian caste system and its entrenched beliefs from several different perspectives. Once upon a time, the story begins, there was a prince who was taken out of the palace at birth by his evil aunt and thought to have died. Instead, he is adopted and raised by a low-caste couple. His lot in life is one with theirs and when he grows up, he champions his family to stop the suffering they have endured because of their particular caste status -- an action of a true prince. There are two versions of the ending of the Folk Tale with the audience welcome to choose their favorite. Enhanced by interesting costumes and incisive dialogue, the fable combines comedy and social commentary as it moves through its classic tale. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, (more)
- 2009
A simple man with a loving family finds his life changing in ways he never anticipated when a superstar strolls into his life, transforming everything around him. Billu Barber lives in a small village with his wife, Bindiya, and their two wonderful children. Though their lives are less than extraordinary, their love is plenty enough to keep everyone content...until their close brush with fame. Now, things are changing all around them. There's certain greatness behind Billu, but his meager existence seems to prevent everyone from seeing it. At first Billu remains unchanged by the chaos swirling around him, but is it possible to remain grounded while everyone you know is being swept off their feet? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irfan Khan, Lara Dutta, (more)
- 1995
- R
In the mid 1960s, scores of refugees from India illegally came to England looking for a better life and found themselves living the very lives they sought to escape. This British drama, chronicles the daily existence of one household of these illegal refugees. The tale centers on Amir who journeys to a grungy northern English industrial town via vegetable crate with only a few dollars to his name. He ends up staying in a ramshackle house with 17 other illegals, all of them men. They lead a dreary life working in a factory filled with others like them. The only bright spot in their lives is a weekly outing to the local cinema that shows Indian films during the daytime. Occasionally a whore visits the house and provides the men with sexual release. The leader of the house is Hussein Shah, a traditional patriarch. Upon his arrival, Amir is befriended by Sakib, a student who shows him the basic ropes of English living. Despite their humble lives, the men get on well. But one day, Hussein brings home a new illegal alien, a lovely blonde woman from Ireland and trouble ensues. The woman is unmarried and pregnant. To help her, Hussein allows a marriage of convenience between the woman and his smart-alecky nephew Irshad. The baby is born, but more trouble ensues when Hussein begins objecting to the woman's free-spirited ways, and his nephew's lack of respect. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Director Rahul Rawail teams with screenwriter Anand Sivakumaran for this cutting black comedy about greed, corpses, cold hard cash, and funerals. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Om Puri, Anupam Kher, (more)
Produced by Tom Hanks, written by Aaron Sorkin, and directed by Mike Nichols, this adaptation of George Crile III's incendiary bestseller tells the remarkable story of the Texas congressman whose efforts to prevent the Red Army from overtaking Afghanistan eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union while simultaneously fueling the rise of radical Islam. In the early 1980s, a hastily assembled army of Afghan "freedom fighters" achieved the remarkable feat of fending off Soviet invaders despite the fact that the odds were overwhelmingly stacked against them. At the time, Texas congressman Charlie Wilson (Hanks) was a key member of the hugely powerful House Appropriations Committee. Illuminated to the specifics of this remarkable war by a high-profile Houston socialite, Wilson spearheaded an effort to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons and training to the Mujahideen with more than a little help from brilliant but prickly CIA operative Gust Avrokotos. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, (more)
In this drama, a wealthy American doctor learns some important lessons about life in one of the poorest cities on Earth. Max Lowe (Patrick Swayze) is a Houston surgeon who has grown weary of the bureaucracy of American medicine. When he loses a patient on the operating table, Max impulsively decides to leave America and travel to India in the hope of "finding himself." Not long after he arrives in Calcutta, Max is attacked by a group of thugs and left without money or a passport. However, a man named Hasari (Om Puri) comes to Max's rescue. Hasari had left his farming community to come to the city, only to be overwhelmed by its dirt, crime, and overcrowding. Despite their poverty, Hasari and his family take Max in and bring him to a medical clinic in the City of Joy, one of the poorest slums in the city. The clinic is run by Joan Bethel (Pauline Collins), an Irish-American nun who urges Max to use his skills to help the people of Calcutta who so desperately need it. Max signs on, and he finds that the experience changes his life. City of Joy was based on a novel by Dominique Lapierre. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Swayze, Pauline Collins, (more)
In the not-so-distant future, a married man investigates a counterfeiter and ends up the perpetrator of an ethical crime in Code 46, the latest film from prolific British director Michael Winterbottom. Set against the backdrop of a technologically advanced Shanghai, where people are only allowed to travel between countries with official passports called "papelles," the film charts the efforts of Seattle native William (Tim Robbins) to get to the bottom of a contraband-papelle operation within the walls of a high-tech company that manufactures them. There he finds Maria (Samantha Morton), an enigmatic young woman who may or may not be selling the passports on the black market. William has a brief affair with Maria, which, despite his attempts to return home, causes him to become embroiled in an even bigger controversy in Shanghai. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton, (more)
- 1986
In a conventional Indian melodrama that underscores political ills such as corruption and social problems such as runaway popular beliefs, director Uptlendu Chakraborty wraps a larger picture around the long-suffering parents of a supposed "child-god." A woman named Sita gives birth to a three-headed baby, and her peasant husband immediately adopts the child out to the first taker. He later finds out that the "taker" is getting rich off the baby because he is touting him as the incarnation of a god. So the peasant comes home and after physically abusing his wife, he demands that she produce another such progeny so they can get rich too. The misery of their lives is told in flashbacks, and after awhile, it becomes apparent why the father reacted so severely. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Smita Patil, Sadhu Meher, (more)
A woman in jeopardy has to deal with a growing number of men who've fallen in love with her, as well as a pair of thugs who want her dead, in this Bollywood musical comedy. Tanya (Rimi Sen) is a beautiful young woman who is in love with Karan (Shahid Kapoor), a sweet and handsome boy who happens to live down the street. However, when Tanya stumbles upon some information about a pair of local gangsters, she finds herself in great danger and must leave town for her own good. Tanya sets out for Dubai, but it isn't long before Karan misses her so much that he decides to find her. Not knowing where she's gone, Karan hires a private investigator, Rocky (Akshay Kumar), to follow her trail, but while Rocky is able to find Tanya easily enough, when he sees her he immediately falls head over heels for her and isn't especially interested in handing her over to Karan. Sanju (Suniel Shetty) is another young man who carries a torch for Tanya, and after she goes away he also sets out to find her; when he discovers Rocky wants to make her his own, he is determined to stop him, even though he's handicapped. And is this the end of the parade of men falling for Tanya? Not by a long shot. Deewane Huye Pagal was shot on location in India, Dubai, and Las Vegas, NV. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, (more)
- 2008
- NR
A quick trip from the USA to India turns into a life-altering journey of self-discovery for a man traveling with his ailing grandmother. Upon arriving in Delhi with his grandmother, Roshan (Abhishek Bachchan) begins to experience an inner transformation that he never anticipated. The ancient walled city is a character unto itself -- embodying the chaos of the Indian people, their beliefs, and their religion -- and before his trip is over Roshan will have fallen deeply in love with Delhi. The pin code of Delhi is 110006, though the locals affectionately refer to it as "DELHI-6." ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, (more)
Rajkaran is an ambitious man with no way of accomplishing his goals. He is in debt to moneylenders in a big way, and his dream of owning his own cab (he's a cabdriver) is as far away as it ever was, despite his penchant for pinching pennies. He lives with a woman who is as ambitious as he is, a woman who has run away from her husband to be with him. He learns of a scheme to put up an illegal factory which dyes textiles, and he borrows even more money from a local bigwig. When the factory is destroyed by authorities, he is forced into choosing sides in some of Bombay's gang wars, and things go from really bad to genuinely harrowing. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, (more)
The lure of the big city is something that country dwellers around the world experience. In every case, the particulars are different. In this drama, two best friends leave their Indian village and travel to Bombay to try and get work. Though the filmmaker doesn't say this, they are lucky. They find a room to share (with lots of other men) and don't have to live on the sidewalks and streets like so many others do. They even find work of a sort, even though it isn't strictly legal. However, beyond that, things aren't very rosy. The married friend is able to invite his wife in from the country for a conjugal visit when a friend loans him the use of his apartment, but that's only one night. Meanwhile, one of their friends who stayed at the village has been putting all his energy into digging a well to get water. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shabana Azmi, Nana Patekar, (more)
- 2006
An Indian narcotics officer concocts an ingenious plan to capture a notorious drug lord, only to discover too little too late just how wrong even the most well-executed plan can go in this Bollywood action thriller from director Farhan Akhtar. As drug trafficking between Asia and Europe rockets to an all-time high, DCP DeSilva vows to bring one of the world's most notorious drug cartels to justice no matter what the cost. Though many believe the powerful operation to be run by the dreaded Singhania, it is actually trusted lieutenant Don who is pulling the strings from behind the scenes. DCP DeSilva knows well that the ruthless and power-mad Don is the true mastermind behind the actions of the cartel, and upon capturing the elusive drug trafficker he sets into motion a complicated plan designed to bring down the elaborately conceived operation once and for all. DeSilva's secret weapon is a man named Vijay. Not only is Vijay the spitting image of Don, but he has studied Don's mannerisms extensively and now possesses the skills needed to infiltrate the group and deceive even the sharp-eyed Singhania. Trouble arises, however, when DeSilva is unexpectedly killed during a raid on the cartel and the only people Vijay can turn to for help are woman who has infiltrated the gang to avenge the death of her brother, and the man who once entrusted Vijay with his son and now owes the frantic undercover cop a sizable favor. But now the ruse has been revealed, and with the police closing in on one side and the vengeful gangsters gaining ground on the other, time is quickly running out for the hunted undercover cop without an identity. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, (more)
East is East, a fast-moving comedy drama of mixed-race manners, is set in Salford, England in 1970. It centers on the Anglo-Pakistani alliance of the Khan family that is both claustrophobically cohesive and hopelessly dysfunctional. In their over-crowded terrace house, anarchy erupts daily with farcical energy. The Khan children, caught between the traditional dogmatism of their Pakistani father (Om Puri) and laissez-faire attitude of their British mother (Linda Bassett), have a lot of difficulties to follow their dreams of becoming citizens of the modern world. Based on the award-winning stage play by Ayub Khan-Din, East is East had great success in the theatres of London before it was made into a film. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Om Puri, Linda Bassett, (more)
