Honestly speaking, the Puris could have spared us the details

Thanks to the high-pitched drama over Om Puri’s biography played out repeatedly on television screens, a great deal of the actor’s liaisons—with women at various stages of his life—have become public much before the release of Unlikely Hero: Om Puri. Still, a lot more revelations were waiting to tumble out. And what could have been a better occasion than a rather grand launch of the biography written by the actor’s wife Nandita in Mumbai on Monday evening.

After the reported storm in the Puri household, the launch seems to be an occasion to celebrate, bond and, most importantly, to put the record straight. Nandita was the star of the evening graced by Amitabh Bachchan, who released the book; Girish Karnad; who wanted to surprise Om; and other dignitaries from the film industry. Praises were showered on her from all quarters for “honest and objective writing”. The biographer admitted to have “taken Om Puri out of the closet by locking the wife” in her.

Leading the band of admirers was Om. He extolled his biographer-wife as “a brilliant writer, but lazy” in between sharing the story of their romance. “I request her friends present here to call her every day and ask her how much she has written that day,” pleaded the actor, who was proud to give details of the journalist-turned-writer’s achievements. The admiration was accompanied by vociferous defending of his wife who according to him was a pawn in the evil claws of the electronic media that chose to highlight only certain aspects of his life.

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