He always cared for people who worked behind the scenes: Film actor Manoj Joshi on Om Puri

A poster from the film.

“A born actor, a man full of life and an idol for budding actors in the world of cinema”, this is how TV and film actor Manoj Joshi remembers late actor Om Puri, who died in Mumbai on Friday. Joshi worked with Puri in the Marathi film — 15 August Bhagile 26 January— slated to release at the end of this year.

“He was a very senior actor but he never made a fuss… while working on set. In fact, he would always make sure that he made every co-actor, senior or newcomer, comfortable…. ,” said Joshi.

Describing his earlier experience of working with the late actor, Joshi recalled a particular scene from the film Aan – Men at Work, in which Puri played an upright police commissioner and Joshi a corrupt home minister. “In the last few scenes, the minister is suppose to badly beat up the commissioner. I could not gather the courage to film the shot in front of such a big name. But he told me to forget who was who and give the shot… that was so humble of him. His death has shocked me,” said Joshi.