Click to play videoAfter the huge controversy created on the sensational details in actor Om Puri's biography Unusual Hero: Om Puri, the actor and his wife Nandita Puri (also the biographer of the book) joined in on CNN-IBN's show India At 9.
CNN-IBN: The reason why many people are raising an eyebrow is because though your biographer is your wife, some of those excerpts people say are an intrusion of marital privacy. Why did you choose your wife to be your biographer?
Om Puri: There is absolutely no intrusion, she hasn't written anything in the book which would embarrass me or which is awkward. I wanted it to be absolutely honest. If you are writing your biography then you should be honest, not that talk about only goody-goody things. I want to talk about my weaknesses, my strengths, my high points, my achievements... everything. And as far as choosing Nandita for the book goes, Nandita has been a journalist for the past 20 years. She has written a book of short stories, the ninth edition is going to come out. It is being translated into German, Danish and she has written two film scripts and she was for eight years continuously writing a column for Midday and she is also working on a novel.
CNN-IBN: Okay Nandita, there's much controversy around the book you wrote. In a sense you are wife and journalist, both at once. On the one hand as the wife you are privy to a lot of secrets. Where did you draw the line on what to reveal and what not to?
Nandita Puri: First thing is that I am a trained journalist and have been a journalist for the past twenty years. I have been profiling people. Yes, it is difficult to you know when you are writing about a family member, especially your spouse. So that is the reason why it took me so long when I had signed the contract in 2002. I started writing in 2007 because I needed a certain amount of detachment and it took me so many years to have certain level of objectivity and professionalism. I have done it with lot of professionalism and objectivity with certain amount of detachment.
CNN-IBN: Mr Om Puri, does it bother you to bare out your life in this way, considering that you have a young son would also be reading it and he's still adolescent? How did you react as a father?
Om Puri: When it appeared in the newspaper and the channel started talking about it, then I felt really bad because my son called me upand he was crying and howling. He said Baba, why did you do this etc. I said - Beta it was a mistake on my part and I apologise for it and that I am sorry for it. I was very, very angry because something out of context was said, because the book is not about this one relationship, that relationship is the part of the book. And he (the son) is a very bright boy and very understanding boy and I could pacify him.
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.
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