India at 9: Om Puri, wife defend controversial biography

TELL ALL: The couple says Om Puri's life is inspirational and they have no regrets.

    

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CNN-IBN: Well, Nandita that was a father's voice and as a mother how did you explain to your son about what you had written about, revealing the sexual secrets of his father?

Nandita Puri: The book in fact is dedicated to my son. In the dedication I write - A legacy he will always cherish. So obviously, I will not write anything which is salacious. Secondly, I know my son is going to read it and if his father is frank enough to admit his past relationships, his childhood...the son is going to read it in a certain context. He is going to read about his father's struggle, about his father's rise from poverty to where he's now. He is going to read about the dedication of an actor, the dynamism of Om Puri and everything which goes around it. So it is up to him to make a judgment of his father later. But after all it is his father's life so he cannot just pass judgments. He has got to just read it and when he's older he's got to accept it and what went into his father's life and vis a vis what went in his mother's life. So if I have some skeletons in my cupboard and I do desire to tell him, then I will tell him. So I think we cannot pass judgment on what he is going to think about it and how it is going to affect him.

CNN-IBN: The book speaks about your love affair with a maid someone you fell in love with when you were young. Please tell us more about that.

Om Puri: Well, for me she was not a maid, she was a nurse, she was the matron of the house. Given the circumstances we were in, I had an 80-year-old father staying with me, and I had three nephews with me who had come from Punjab because in Punjab terrorism was at the top at that time. Also my brother could not afford to bring up his children so I brought them to Bombay to educate them. They were staying with me and I am an actor. I was shooting during the day, I was going outdoors. She looked after my family and my father. For me, she was an attractive woman and she looked after my house. I was grateful and the attachment grew and we did have an affair. As far as my son is concerned, my son - when he grows up will understand. It is not for the first time this kind of a thing has been exposed. With all due apologies, Mahatma Gandhiji wrote My Experiments With Truth and he talked about both his private and intimate experiences. It did not affect anybody. He was an extra ordinary man and he still is. Similarly, I am an ordinary man and I can also talk about my intimate, personal experiences. I don't need to hide them, putting them under the carpet. I am not embarrassed at all.

CNN-IBN: Many would say that the controversy about Om Puri's sex life being highlighted is just a marketing gimmick. Nandita, what do you have to say to that?

Nandita Puri: I do not need to resort to any marketing gimmick vis-a-vis Om Puri's biography. The fact that it is a story of Om Puri who has made a contribution to certain era of parallel cinema in the 80's. He is India's only crossover actor. It is the documentation of a particular cinematic era, his unique journey from a village of abject poverty to where he has reached today is a story in itself. Om has no objection and he is being very honest about his past life, his relationships and I as his wife, with a certain amount of detachment - is not feeling embarrassed to write about it. Then I don't know why people are passing judgments over whether we should be honest or not. This is Om's life and he has full right to be public about it. If we are not bothered then what is bothering the media, whether we should be talking about it or not?

CNN-IBN: But Om Puri, this book isn't only about exposing your sexual experiences, although that is what is being highlighted so far. I have read bits about your ingenuity in rolling out hot rotis at Roland Jaffe's Bel Air home with wine bottles, about your days with Naseeruddin Shah at the NSD. What would you say the book is about?

Om Puri: This book is about my extraordinary childhood, my beginnings. I was a rag picker at the age of seven, I was in a tea shop at 7 am when I was washing tea glasses and that entire journey from ninth standard. I was on my own staying alone, giving tuition and going to school, cooking by myself, washing my clothes. I did my class 10th, then I went to college and did odd jobs. I was with a with a lawyer working as a peon, I was working as a lab assistant in the same college where I was studying and I was a clerk in a government office. How I managed to go to the NSD (National School of Drama) and how did I manage to go to the FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) in Pune and after that how did I manage to establish myself in Bombay. Today, I am known as a versatile actor not only in India but also abroad.

CNN-IBN: What is your favourite part about the book?

Om Puri: My favourite part of the book is my childhood. It will be a very inspiring chapter and also I consider that it is not only my story, it is the story of millions of Indians; particularly millions of children who are living a very difficult life, who are struggling in life, who lived under deprivation and lot of them can't make it and their story nobody will hear. But here is a celebrity whose story will be heard and I hope people will identify that it is not only Om Puri's story, it is also that of millions of other children.