Before Sanaur’s ‘Guddu’ made it to City of Dreams

Gagan K Teja

Tribune News Service

Patiala, January 6

“Milansaar si, majakiya vi si, par choti umar vich hi one apni sari zimmevari saambh layi si. Shuru to hi nankian ghare rehke padeya te kuch saal baad jado ona ne onu gharon kadd dita te bachian nu tuitions parha ke apna gujara kita. Mainu te yakeen hi nahi hunda ke Guddu sade vich nahi raya. (He was friendly, he was funny but at a young age, he shouldered all his responsibilities. He lived at his maternal uncle’s house since childhood but when they shut their doors on him, he gave tuition to earn his livelihood. I can’t believe Guddu is no more among us,” said an emotional Mahender Singh, actor Om Puri’s childhood friend.

He and another friend Gurdev Singh, both of whom were Om’s classmates, threw light on the initial years of his life, standing in front of the veteran actor’s house in Sanaur that has been lying vacant for the past two decades.

Fondly called Guddu in the area, Om Puri did his schooling from Government High School in Sanaur and later studied in Khalsa College, where he also worked part-time in the chemistry laboratory, before he headed to the “City of Dreams”. He last visited Sanour in February 2007 to campaign for Congress leader Lal Singh.

Gurdev said Guddu since childhood had been very career-oriented. “He took up acting during his school days but there were limited opportunities. After his uncle turned him out of the house following some family dispute, he started giving tuitions to continue his studies and that’s how he managed to reach college.”

Mahender said it was in college when he joined the drama club that his passion grew.

Having had a very long association with Om Puri, Punjabi actress Neena Tiwana — wife of late actor and theatrist Harpal Tiwana who was Om Puri’s teacher and guide — said Guddu’s death was “an end of a phenomenon”. She narrated how her late husband had offered Om to work with him in his theatre company Punjab Kala Manch and offered him Rs 150 per-month salary, thus starting his journey. “I still remember how such a young, thin boy had a magnetic presence on stage. His eyes used to light up and his voice would cast a spell on the audience.”

Pollywood actress Sunita Dhir, who is a prof in Punjabi University’s Department of Theatre and Television, said she met Om Puri for the first time during the shooting of “Chann Pardesi” in 1980 and was awestruck by his acting and golden voice. “He was a few years senior to me and was highly grounded. His death is a big loss to the film industry,” she added.