Abhishek Bachchan would have already been out of Bollywood had he been someone else's son - Om Puri

Om Puri is ill. So claimed a few city tabloids after the veteran actor visited a hospital for a check-up. His excessive smoking habit was being blamed for the same. When we met Om, he looked fit as a fiddle and a cigarette packet lay next to him on the table indicating that the actor was yet to kick the butt. Currently busy promoting the lone film in his kitty, The Hundred-Foot Journey, Om Puri opened up on Bollywood shunning him owing to old age, his son’s aspirations and his thoughts of other star sons of the industry. How is your health now? I am fine. I know a lot of rumours about my ill-health have been floating around. I just went for a check up to a hospital and was there for two days. Someone leaked that news and the next thing I hear is these false rumours. I am fine. No problems till now. You are working with Oscar winner Helen Mirren in The Hundred Foot Journey. What special elements of Om Puri will we get to see in the movie? The very fact that Om Puri is acting with Helen Mirren and they fall in love with each other is the most special thing. I would say Helen is my Smita Patil. The movie will showcase senior citizens love angle which is very tender and compassionate without the presence of any sexuality. Steven Spielberg is producing the movie. Did you get a chance to interact with him? No. He never came on sets. I instead met our other producer, Oprah Winfrey. She was very nice and pleasant and used to fold her hands in reverence and greet me with a namaste. She also said that she will be going to Hrishikesh. I gave her a book that I was reading - Eknath Easwaran’s The Blue Mountain. Bollywood actors usually make a hue and cry even even if they are playing a blink-and-miss role in Hollywood. What’s your take on them? Shor nahi machana chahiye. One should work quietly and return. I don’t know about others but I have never struggled or hung around any producer’s office or tried showing off my work. Whatever I get, I finish it quietly and come back. Does Hollywood offer you more creative satisfaction than Bollywood? Yes. In Hollywood, movies are made mainly for passion. For instance, look at Steven Spielberg. On one hand, he will make commercial entertainers like ET and on the other a movie like Schindler’s List. Here in Bollywood, money is the driving force for every movie. Is that the reason why you are not seen much in Bollywood these days? Where is work for oldies like me here? In Hollywood, roles are written specifically for senior actors but that is not the case here unless you are a star like Amitabh Bachchan. I may be a wonderful actor but have never been a commercial star. So there is no work for me today. Are you disillusioned with the way Bollywood treats senior actors like you? I don’t care. I don’t expect anything from Bollywood or anybody. This is what happens when you grow old in Bollywood. Look at what has happened to Manoj Kumar and Shashi Kapoor. It is a part of life that one has to accept. My time is over now. There is no work now. I have neither commercial nor art house cinema. And I don’t regret it. Also, I have never rested in my entire life. So now I will since I don’t have any work. What about filmmakers like Priyadarshan and Vipul Shah with whom you have worked a lot in the past? Why don’t they offer you any roles? I don’t know. Vipul Shah is sitting silently these days. I don’t know why. Even Priyadarshan who used to make at least one film a year has shut shop now. Perhaps he has earned enough money now. Never thought of calling them up? I have never done that. I don’t want to knock on doors begging for work. May be this lull is just a phase which will pass. What about hosting a show a la Anupam Kher? Hosting is not my cup of tea. I have done great work on television like Bharat Ek Khoj, Tamas, Mr. Yogi and many others. So why should I do khachra (garbage) now when I have done quality work. Will you encourage your son to join Bollywood? My son is just 17. I will not discourage him but at the same time I have told him about the pros and cons of being in this industry. Just because his father is an actor, he can’t at any point take it for granted that he will also become an actor. There is nothing that happens automatically in Bollywood. Even star kids have failed to make it. Dev Anand couldn’t make his son a star. Same is true in the case of Rajendra Kumar and producer Harry Baweja both of whom couldn’t make their sons successful actors. Bachchan saab toh zabardasti apne bete ko actor bana baithe. Agar kisi aur ka beta hota toh kab ka bahar ho gaya hota (Mr. Bachchan forcibly made his son an actor. If he had been someone else’s son, he would have already been out.) It’s another matter that he (Abhishek) has improved now. So I have told my son to have another alternate career in mind should acting not work out well for him.