A Conversation with Om Puri

Re: scout, #29

I haven`t seen My Son the Fanatic. But I know what you mean (also see my response to Farangi below).

Re: Farangi, #27

Self-loathing and self-hatred is not a new phenomenon, and certainly not limited to Islamic society: witness the painting at the Brooklyn Museum where the artist painted Virgin Mary and smeared elephant dung all over it, or the painting of Cross with Christ on it in a bucket full of piss. To these people -- ie, Salman Rushdie, Hanif Kureishi, Ayub Khan Din, and those who belong in that worm-group -- the excrement that comes out of the body is far more important than the food they eat. They love to smell it, play with it, and then they hate it and themselves for it.

The above mentioned people write garbage to gain publicity and respect from their unsuspecting Western masters. Since they don`t have an iota of a talent of someone like Vikram Seth, they figured that if they run around naked they are bound to be noticed from those who wear clothes. Now, look at Salman. His `Midnight`s Children`, a halfway decent book compared to `Satanic Verses` did not get him far in terms of publicity. On the other hand, a blasphemous garbage did wonders for him. He`s now a ``celebrity.`` Any low-life worm-of-a-person with no morals seeking publicity on questionable talent would do that. Can you blame him

Humsab #31:

[...A Valid Question to all the intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals..]

---The former are forever debating the latter at Pak Tea House.

Can one who has neither of those two allegations leveled at him by anyone sober, and in recent memory, and one who also detests the use of the said word, and one who refrains from the company of such described individuals, attempt to answer your query?

[...Now if a Pakistani Artiste who is resident and citizen of Pakistan had played a role of an Indian and as per his role had abused Pakistan and its leadership for Kargil and Kashmir, WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HIS PLIGHT?...]

Probably the same treatment as meted out to some Indian cricketers upon returning back to India after a loss to Pakistan a few years back. Some players received life threatening letters and one’s house was set fire or damaged.

rgds,

t

A Valid Question to all the intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals:-

Om Puri played the role of Pakistani in East is East and as required by his role, he abused India and India`s Prime minister using colourful language. That movie got rave reviews in India and not even Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal came out to condemn him with their own special brand of Patriotism. Great! Is not it?

Now if a Pakistani Artiste who is resident and citizen of Pakistan had played a role of an Indian and as per his role had abused Pakistan and its leadership for Kargil and Kashmir, WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HIS PLIGHT?

Urstruly

Tussi thoraha thande dil-dimag naal jawab dena jeh dena pasand karo te pher! Ehve ration paani le ke larhai da nagaara na vajhana shurhu kar dena ji. Vaise Punjabi to Thande dil dimag di umeed karna hai te galat par thande mulq vich rah ke shayad punjabi da dimag der saver thanda ho jaaye!

Pankaj, don`t ask about the semester. Pretty tough as two courses to teach on top of the regular supervising students. But chowk is such an addiction! have to come back at least once in lunch time. This is the only way to know your ``Dushman Kaun``....

Bye buddy!

Godot #22, ``The portrayal of Pakistani families in their work is the portrayal of their own (childhood) experiences. ``

That could be the case with East is East, but some of the scenes in ``My Son the Fanatic`` were truly horrible and denigrating. The basic idea of the movie was good, but I think the director lost out on the addition of useless nudity and the prostitution aspect of the movie.

Asim Hayat #19, ``Could it be, that the subject matter had been distorted dso much by the movie makers that no self respecting Pakistani would touch this hogwash with a nine foot pole, regardless of economics, or the reason for this

fellow having to ask an indian to play a Pakistani, is more esoteric than that.``

Exactly! At least it`s good to know that no Pakistani would play a Pakistani man who`s portrayed as a supporter for prostitution (in Fanatic).

By the way, I had the pleasure of viewing a UK based Pakistani serial with some great Pakistani actors in it. Though the play itself left much to be desired, the actors were remarkable. I`m thinking they are based in UK because I`ve never seen them in any Pakistani serial.

``I shall let you know what were his reasons in employing an indian, granted a good actor likle Om Puri to do the ``stereotypical part``, soon enough!``

That should be interesting. Don`t let him get away with it. :)

Shammi #13, Dara #16, Cheraym #20 I see that I threw one rock at the Puri Tree, and three movies fell out, one from each of you kind people. I shall add this to the list (yes, we do actually have one at home) of Indian movies to see. The list keeps growing, but self and spouse shall keep chipping away at it...

Godot:

These artsy-fartsy ``movies`` are nothing but cathartic purgatory exercise for Hanif Kureishi & Ayub Din kinds.The miserable wretches do not know whether they just returned from the loo or are supposed to still visit.If `done` then why the stomach is gurgurating & if NOT done then why the toilet paper is still in hand.

These hash-brownies,chips and over-done burgers have a few more years to go.They will AIDS-themselves out soon.

__________________________________________________

wassalaam

Om Puri is one of my favourites. I like him for his superlative performance in a TV serial ``Tamas``. His performance in the movies like ``Ardha-satya`` and ``Drohkaal`` was simply great.

Cherayam

So how is the new semester going!

Saniya:

Thanks for the transcript. And welcome to chowk.

scout #1
sameerJB #3
ras #4
tahmed321 #5
Latif Chappu #11
shammi #13
Asim Hayat #19
cheraym #20

He is a versatile character actor. A lot of questions raised here are answered in an interview by Michael Sragow at the following site.

http://www.salon.com/ent/col/srag/2000/04/06/ompuri/

(approp) love and rgds,

t

REPORT CARD:

First Prime Minister of Pakistan was shot dead By ``Vested Interest``

The Constituent Assembly was dissolved by Governor General

The executive cum Juidiciary

invented Law of neccesity which legitimise all future coup, and milliatry take over

Agricultural land in sind( Ghulam Mohd Barrage) Was alloted to Punjabi settlers

East Pakistan`s(Now Bengla Desh) wealth was looted and the bengalee were persecuted indiscriminately by the majority province of W.Pakistan.

War was raged against Baluchis, Mohajir, Pathans

The first elected Prime-Minister was executed.

Secterian ( in the name of religion)& Ethinic violence Has killed more people than the casualties suffered during 1965&1971 war put together

The sub- content issues are very complex...Serious and honest thinkers... the like of Jay Parkash Narian,Maulana Azad,Dr Radha krishan,Faiz...And in younger generation Few `REHANS` are required to help to resolve the miseries of sub-continent..both countries are wasting their wealth in preparing a war machinery ..in a place where clean water and primitive health care is not provided ..where 80% of the population are living in sub-humane condition....

MORE LATTER...

Re: scout

My impression of Hanif Kureishi`s (most of his work) and Ayub Khan Din`s (East is East) themes is that they write and portray the environment in which they have perhaps grown and know well. The portrayal of Pakistani families in their work is the portrayal of their own (childhood) experiences. Their themes reflect a segment of Pakistani society which probably exist and which us, the middle-class, urban, and English-speaking desis, have not experienced and do not know. In my view, their themes in no way reflect Pakistani society in its totality, but only the writers` own environment. I recently saw East is East. I liked it, but could not relate to it at all because that environment is totally alien to me. I did not see it as a ``Pakistani-society movie.`` I don`t think most movie goers would.

And as far as Om Puri playing assoholic Pakistanis, well, he is just an actor who plays his roles well

Om Puri is wonderful.

But who let that dog-faced midget Shah Rukh Khan into the film industry?

Welcome back Zeemax, where have you been?

Tahmed, if you can watch ``Satgati``, a telefilm by Satyajit Ray where Om Puri acted as an untouchable, you will have some feeling how good this man is. If Bolywood can be proud of some actors, Om Puri is definitely one of them. You complain about his look, but somehow he looks perfectly fit for all the characters he played. I don`t think with a very heroish look he could do that. Recently he made a comic appearance in one TV show called Gubbare, he was just fabulous. I could go on and on...

Regards

cheraym

Re: Scout

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

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

Perhaps, he too is a weak man in terms of turning down his personal economic situation, by being less discerning in his choice of roles. Can you blame him.

Besides, He has not played the role of a sterotypical Hindu Brahmin, for which he ought to be congratulated. Or any Hindu. One does wonder, as to why the erstwhile prolific Mr Kureishi(notice the K as opposed to the Q in his surname), was unable to find a single good Pakistani actor, and that too in UK, where Channel 4 productions is replete with reasonable Pakistani talent, along with the ubiquitous indians. Could it be, that the subject matter had been distorted dso much by the movie makers that no self respecting Pakistani would touch this hogwash with a nine foot pole, regardless of economics, or the reason for this fellow having to ask an indian to play a Pakistani, is more esoteric than that.

Rest assured, in about three weeks time, the said author is visiting my neck of the woods, for a screening of the ``My Son the fanatic``, and has been generous enough to allow an informal question and answer session post viewing. I shall let you know what were his reasons in employing an indian, granted a good actor likle Om Puri to do the ``stereotypical part``, soon enough!

As an aside, I am an avid admirer of Mr Kureishis`s works. His last anthology of short stories, entitled,``Love in the blue times`` was well received both her and in UK. The film, My son the fanatic, is based on his short story from this collection. Some of you might not know that the original short story was much more poignant, precise, and memeorable, as opposed to the rendition of the movie. For starters, the bit about the servility in front of the english police officers family by Om, done ever so shamefully in the movie, was never a part of the original short story. There was no repugnant nudity, in the story, as opposed to the debacle in the film.

The short story was alos adapted by Channel Four productions of U.K for a TV play. If you want to see a good clean rendition of his story, devoid of filmy twists, may i recommend trying to get that play on video.

I had gotten the Americanised Movie rendition of ``my Son the fanatic``, last summer on video. Foolishly, i had insisted that my dad watch it with me and my brother, all the while saying that i had read the short story, and it must be a good movie. Needless to say, half way through the movie,..my father got quite upset, and said,..``Yeh kia bayhiyaaee dikha rahey hain`` and he left in disgust.

East is East was much more fun, though once again dwelling on the theme of Pakistani mens abusive syndrome, which they tried to pull off, as if all Pakistani men are wife beaters, and abusers of children. The thing which ranked me even more was how the british wife was shown in such a positive light, once again promoting stereotypicla charcaters, ``We british were good for you, natives . See what happened to your countries when we left. See how we still take care of your filthy, third world posteriors. Our women take you in, and are good to you, and yet you despise us``.

Mr Kureishi has a lot to answer for. I shall make sure, he gets to do some of the answering inshalah, in three weeks time!

Sameer ji, is there a way I can contact you via e-mail?

Even better if you can drop me a line or two at jgsingh@yahoo.com so that I can respond back.

Thanks.