The workshop dedicated to great Indian actor Om Puri (1950-2017) took place in St Andrews on 18 April 2017. Speakers paying tribute to the actor included Dr. Anuja Jain, Prof Dina Iordanova, and a host of doctoral students including Shruti Narayanswamy, Souraj Doutta, Aakshi Magazine, Shorna Pal and Sanghita Sen. We screened and discussed the film HALF TRUTH/ARDH SATYA (1983, Givind Nihalani) featuring stars Om Puri and Smita Patil.
“No one can say exactly what contributes to an actor’s ability to create empathetic characters, but the sensitivity that Puri brought to his roles, are perhaps products of both the triumphs as well as the disappointments that are were a part of his career and his life,” said Aakshi Magazine. “It is this that probably reflects the sensitivity he could bring in playing not easily likeable characters like the one in East is East, or the Hindu right-wing officer responsible for riots in Dev. Puri portrayed them as contradictions without asking us to take sides.”
A number of texts on Om Puri by contributors such Aakshi Magazine, Souraj Dutta, Shruti Narayanswamy, Dina Iordanova and Shorna Pal were published In Media Res for the week of 22 May 2017.
The event was covered inIndian media, including Hindustani Times and NYOOZ TV
