At the start of his career, Bollywood actor Om Puri couldn’t get roles due to his ‘average’ looks but he never gave up. During the ’80s, he took up character acting and conquered Bollywood slowly and steadily. He was then welcomed internationally as an actor who could play anyone at the drop of a hat, coming full circle with the Pakistani film Actor In Law.

Images on Sunday takes a look at some of his memorable roles that brought out different shades of the performer we knew as Om Puri.

Aakrosh — Before there was Ardh Satya, there was Aakrosh that introduced Om Puri and director Govind Nihalani to the big screen. Written by Vijay Tendulkar whose writing influenced them later in their careers, Aakrosh had Om playing an oppressed peasant who doesn’t speak at all (except in flashback) because he has been convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. The only time we hear him again is when he kills his sister so that she doesn’t follow the same fate as his dead wife who was raped and he couldn’t save her. This was the first-time Om Puri’s eyes showed the anger that was to herald his career in coming years, with no stopping.

Ardh Satya — “The role of Anant Velankar was not written with Amitabh Bachchan in mind,” claimed Om Puri on one of the few occasions we met last year. “Yes, the makers wanted him to be part of the project but he was too big a star at that time, and I was a nobody.” It was one of the characters that took Om Puri from an actor to an actor of repute with brilliantly executed action sequences that were ahead of their time.

My Son, the Fanatic —“Have you read the book by Hanif Kureishi? What a wonderful piece of literature if you ask me,” Om Puri said of the role that made him an international star.

As Pervez the taxi driver, Om Puri brilliant portrayed a Pakistani settled in England who watches his son stumble towards fanaticism. The film had many aspects that resound with many Non-Resident Pakistanis and if anyone had doubts that Om Puri could play only characters that were Indian, this changed their perception.

Bharat Ek Khoj — Unlike many of his counterparts who shied away from TV in their filmi days, Om Puri remained committed to both TV and stage. In fact, he appeared in nearly every episode of the mangum opus Bharat Ek Khoj, playing one character a week from Indian history, and making this one of the most iconic choices of his acting career.

City of Joy —“It was one of the few international projects where I appeared as I was,” laughed Puri Sahib when reminded of his collaboration with the late Patrick Swayze. The film is about slum dwellers in Calcutta who find a messiah in a Houston-based doctor, who had arrived in India in search of spiritual guidance after losing a patient. There he meets Hasari Pal (Om Puri) and wife Kamala (Shabana Azmi) after a mishap with the locals, and by the end, they become inseparable friends.

Droh Kaal — Ten years after Ardh Satya, Govind Nihalani reunited with Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah for an action thriller that shows what goes around inside the minds of those who protect and serve the nation. Both veterans were at the top of their game at the time. Om Puri carries the film on his shoulders till the very end.

Wolf — “Amitabh Bachchan Ji called me after watching the film in America and congratulated me for making India proud even if the length of the character wasn’t that long,” Om Puri said while recalling his first Hollywood film with major stars such as Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer and James Spader. “I had to sit in the make-up chair for more than six hours while they transformed me into Dr. Vijav Alezais, the man who held the answers to the puzzle. It was also a chance to work with the great director Mike Nichols who called the shots for the horror film that has now achieved cult status due to overall production and quality.”

Chachi 420 — Director Kamal Hassan must be commended for choosing the best cast in his remake of Mrs Doubtfire and that’s the reason why the film is remembered as a classic. It had veteran director Johnny Walker as the makeup man, Amrish Puri as a disgruntled father-in-law, and Paresh Rawal and Om Puri as those who were totally smitten by Chachi.

China Gate — “In his blind ambition to remake Seven Samurai, director Rajkumar Santoshi cast old men as action stars. It shouldn’t have been the case in the first place,” Om Puri said, critical of what could have been a great flick. “We should have been portrayed as men who use their brains rather than muscle but were used as mercenaries and that’s why the film bombed even though it had excellent dialogues and fight sequences.”

East is East — Om Puri is considered a giant in the British film industry simply because his involvement in films such as East is East and West is West has led to their popularity internationally. “There was a scene where the moulvi of the mosque is supposed to call George Khan, my character. I discussed it with the director that the moulvi shouldn’t refer to me as George as that would be inappropriate. That’s when they added a backstory to George — whenever the moulvi and he interacted, the former called him by his birth name of Zaheer.”

On playing Gen Ziaul Haq in Charlie Wilson’s War: “I have been playing Pakistanis for quite some time but like most Indians, I didn’t have any memory of Gen Ziaul Haq as a person as he wasn’t my president,” Om Puri said of the former Pakistani dictator who ruled Pakistan for 11 years, from 1977-88. “I asked Shartughan Singh to help me out as he was not only a family friend to the former president’s family but also knew him very well. When I went to shoot for Charlie Wilson’s War, I became the person the director wanted thanks to Shatru’s invaluable coaching.”

Hera Pheri’s Khadak Singh­ — Many new cinegoers remember Om Puri as the crazy Sikh who runs around looking for Shyam who had run away with all his money and nearly destroyed his sister’s wedding.

As a comedian, the role made him standout as one of the best alongside Paresh Rawal, Akhshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty. Although he kept appearing in Priyadarshan’s films, no role had the impact of Khadak Singh who never went anywhere without his band of brothers.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, January 15th, 2017