An ugly spat in the making?

Though Om Puri was a celebrated actor, his personal life had its share of controversies, especially with regard to his two broken marriages. Even after his death, the drama seems to continue. Seema Kapoor (his first wife) and Nandita Puri (his second wife) are both planning to make films on the life of the acting legend.

While Seema, whom he left for Nandita and eventually went back to, is planning her film on the man she still misses dearly, Nandita has already announced that her biopic would be based on her book Unlikely Hero, a work that Om had denounced as defamatory and insulting.

Om had once said, “My wife has reduced a very important and sacred part of my life to cheap and lurid gossip. I had shared these dark secrets with my wife as all husbands do. If she chose to make them public, at least she should have made sure to maintain a dignity about experiences that are a valuable part of my life... I was aware that Aparajita Krishna was writing my biography. When Nandita expressed a desire to write about me, I couldn’t stop her as she’s my wife.”

In fact, he was so hurt by the contents of her book that he decided he would leave her thereafter but stuck on in the marriage only because of their son.

Says Seema, “This book caused Omji so much pain. Until the end, he was regretful that his life story was not written by Aparajita. Will this book that caused him so much pain now be made into a film? That would be doing him a great injustice.” Meanwhile, Seema is being extremely discreet about her plans. “Let it happen. Then we’ll talk about it. There is no point in making tall declarations unless they’re backed by facts. I never knew Omji would leave so early. I am yet to come to terms with it.”

Seema incidentally is a filmmaker. Her first feature film Mr Kabaadi will be opening this Friday. Though the film stars her brother, Anu Kapoor (who is likely to play Om in her film), Om also features in a cameo.