January 13, 2017
ENTERTAINMENT:REVIEWS/NEWS ENTERTAINMENT:REVIEWS/NEWS
Veteran actor Om Puri has passed Veteran Actor Om Puri Passes Away, away, he was found dead at his Mumbai house on Friday morning. He was 66. As confirmed by his friends from the film fraternity+ the actor succumbed to a major heart attack. Reportedly, Puri returned home on Thursday evening after a shoot. The door bell to his house at Lokhandwala’s Oakland Park residence went unanswered on Friday morning, following which his driver raised an alarm. Actor Shabana Azmi shared on twitter, “OM Puri undergoing postmortem at Cooper Hospital. Will be taken to Trishul around 3pm Funeral at Oshiwara electric crematorium around 6pm.” The recipient of two National awards and two Filmfare Awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award, Om Puri had an illustrious film career , spanning over four decades. The actor had posted a tweet, looking back at his career in December 2016. He said, “I have no regrets at all. I have done quite well for myself. I didn’t have a conventional face, but I have done well, and I am proud of it.” The Padma Shri awardee, studied at the Film and Television Institute of India and at the National School
MOVIE REVIEW:
Prakash Electronics
Bollywood Mourns his Demise
of Drama, where Naseeruddin Shah was his classmate. Born on October 18, 1950, hailing
from Ambala in Haryana, Om Puri made his film debut in 1976 with the Marathi film ‘Ghashiram Kotwal’. A critically acclaimed actor, Puri featured in films like ‘Ardh Satya’, ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’, ‘Aakrosh’, ‘Mirch Masala’ and many others. More recently, he was seen in the movies, ‘Dabangg’, ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ and ‘Ghayal Once Again’.
Puri also had a meaty and memorable role opposite Helen Mirren in Steven Spielberg’s 2014 American comedy drama ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’. The acclaimed actor delivered some stellar performances in mainstream commercial Pakistani, Indian and British cinema apart from making a dent in Hollywood with his roles in ‘east is East’, ‘City of Joy’, ‘Gandhi’ and ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’. He was nominated for the Best Actor BAFTA for ‘East is East’ in 2000. The actor also received an honorary OBE in 2004 for his contribution to British cinema. On the personal front, Om Puri’s first marriage to Seema Kapoor, the sister of actor Annu Kapoor, in 1991, did not last long. After they broke their 8-month long marriage, Puri tied the knot with journalist Nandita Puri in 1993. The actor had a son named Ishaan with Nandita. In 2009, Nandita wrote Puri’s biography titled ‘Unlikely Hero: The Story Of Om Puri.’The actor was furious at the inclusion of explicit details of his previous relationships in the book. -timesofindia.com
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A middle-aged electrician is smit-
“Film industry waali ladkiyan aise waise kaam karti hain.” In a film that tries to dispel the myth that all actresses take the casting couch route to stardom, it’s surprising that Prakash doubts her character on more than one occasion. Interestingly, the only word beeped out in the film is ‘item’, which is how most of the characters refer to Barkha. Still, misogyny is not the weakest point in the film. As a viewer, you’re cheated of a twist concerning Prakash’s romantic life, which could have been fun to watch. It does have a handful of funny scenes, but you have to wait for the jokes through cringe-inducing melodrama. Prakash Electronics itself is in serious need of repair on its script, music and jokes. -timesofindia.com
ten by a diva who comes to live in his society. He wants to marry her, but his orthodox mentality comes in his way. Will he overcome his hang-ups to marry the love of his life? But Prakash Electronics packs too much – melodrama, a message and suspense in a movie that is an hour too long. An orphan, our protagonist Prakash is conned out of the property his parents left him by his sister and brother-in-law. An introvert by nature, butt an overall nice guy, he grows up to be a moderately successful electrician and does pro bono repair work for neighbours. A pretty girl, Barkha (Hrishita Bhatt), rents a house in his building and he is smitten and wants to marry her. There’s only one problem here. No, it’s not that Barkha is way out of his league. Just that Barkha is an aspiring actress and Prakash doesn’t like people who work in films. Imran Khan According to him, January 13, 1983
INDO-AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2017 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
Sidharth Malhotra January 16, 1985