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Om Puri’s ‘parting gift’ to wife Seema!
Actor Om Puri, who passed away on January 6 this year, made a promise to his wife Seema Kapoor on the sets of her directorial debut in Lucknow a year back. Getting nostalgic about her husband’s last film she tells HT City, “He announced in front of everyone that he will gift me two tickets to Paris and accompany me after the release of our film Mr Kabaadi.”
As the film gets ready to hit the screen after two week she narrates the entire incident. “There was a shot in which a burkha-clad woman had to bring flowers and ‘itr’ to Omji during the shot near the Shani Temple. He asked me play that role, which I was reluctant to do. He put his foot down and said if I won’t do the role then he will not shoot further,” she recalls.
Seema relented. “Since the burkha was not clean, it was emitting foul odour. So I wrapped a ‘chunri’ and gave the shot. He was very happy and announced to gift me tickets and accompany me to Paris. He also sang ‘Ae phoolon ki rani…’ for me on the mike. But, as the release date nears such memories are cropping up one after the other,” she tells.
Om Puri had finished shooting for the film before he passed away but his voice over was left. “He is a narrator of the film and there were some voice-overs that happened after he left for the heavenly abode. So we retained the dialogues that were shot during the course of the film but his voiceovers for narration have been done by Satish Kaushik,” she tells on phone.
Seema wrote the comedy film in 2009 and read it to Om Puri. “He said the script had a khushboo (fragrance) and made some suggestions, which I incorporated,” she tells.
Seema was supposed to come to Lucknow for the promotion of her film but due to fever could not come with her team. Producers Anup Jalota, Om Chhangani with actor Kashish Vohra and Brijendra Kala were in the state capital for the film’s promotion.
Bhajan Samrat Anup Jalota is very upbeat about his production. “With actors like Annu Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Sarika and Brijendra with the young pair, the film is backed by a very good script and direction. We have shot it entirely in Lucknow and hope the audience likes it,” he says. The singer has also song a comic bhajan in the film.
Jalota reveals that he will shoot his next venture again in his hometown. “We are supposed to shoot the film from September in Lucknow. Actor Mithun Chakraborty has been finalised and we are working on the remaining cast. The film will be directed by Madhura Jasraj, wife of Pandit Jasraj and daughter of actor-director V Shantaram,” says Jalota.
Actor Kashish too belongs to Lucknow. “I was born here and my parents hail from this city. I have been brought up in Delhi but every year my vacations and holidays were spent here in Shringar Nagar,” she says.
OM PURI HAD FINISHED SHOOTING FOR THE FILM BEFORE HE PASSED AWAY BUT HIS VOICE OVER WAS LEFT.