Om Puri reminisced about his days at NSD with Naseeruddin Shah. He said that every element that cinema uses, apart from camera, belongs to theatre
When I joined the National School of Drama (NSD) I was a Punjabi speaking boy, not fluent in English. And today I have been part of more than 10 English movies and television series,” reminisced Om Puri with pride as he addressed NSD students at the onset of the Bharat Rang Mahotsav. “Nothing,” he said, “should be a barrier between you and your goals.”
He feels happy that theatre has come a long way since he started his career. “When I was in Punjab there were hardly any theatre groups but now there are so many groups in cities like Chandigarh, Haryana and Amritsar. Neelam Man Singh is doing wonderful theatre. Earlier we had only folk theatre in North India — nautanki in UP and Bihar and bhand in Punjab while people Maharashtra, Karnataka and Bengal already had a tradition of theatre. We need our theatre to become national. We have acting and direction potential but we need to work on stage skills”
The 64-year-old actor said that he decided to do movies because he wanted to reach out to the masses, something that is not possible with the medium of theatre. “When I was doing theatre I often asked myself how many people I am reaching out toIJ After graduating I turned to acting but I did not forget my roots which have always been in theatre,” he said. Even when he is shooting for a movie he finds it similar to the stage. “Cinema theatre ka bachcha hai,” he said adding that every element that cinema uses, apart from camera, belongs to theatre.
Puri shared that unlike his contemporaries and peers, he has not been able to dedicate time to theatre. He said that in Maharashtra it is easy to earn a livelihood from theatre, but that’s not possible in North India. “When I passed out from NSD, I found out that a few renowned people who were doing Hindi theatre were doing it as a passion and they all were engaged in a full time profession. I contributed to cinema and tried to earn money while following my passion,” he added.
He also encouraged NSD students to develop their own creative output during production. He shared how he impressed Satyajit Ray while shooting for Sadgati. “Manik da (Ray) was not very familiar with the sensitive issue of untouchability in North India. When Mohan Agashe, who played a Brahmin, had to touch my character, who was a village shoemaker, I suggested Manik da to let Mohan use a log of wood for the purpose because I was supposed to be an untouchable,” he added.
There were beautiful moments that he spent at NSD with Naseeruddin Shah, his batchmate and friend for 44 years. Not only did they detest their music and dance classes, they often faced the wrath of their professors. “Our music teacher looked at us in a way which clearly said, ‘Why are these two still alive in my class,’” he laughed. The duo’s most embarrassing moment was during their final year practical exams. “The examiner said that he did not want to pain his ears by listening to us one after the other and asked us to sing a duet. We ended up scoring 17 marks out of 50,” shared the actor.
With this example, he pointed out to the students the need to take music and dance classes seriously. “Not everyone can get as lucky as me and Naseer. When you take dance class seriously, apne aap hi ek lachak ayega aapke badan mein. That will help you perform better. The music classes will hone your voice for the stage. Theatre performance is all about the eloquence of the voice. If you have a stable voice, modulation becomes easy,” he rounded up.