It was my first play, and a scrawny man with a pock-marked face and unimpressive looks was one of my co-actors.

Little did I know that the man, who failed to give flight to my teenage awe when I first met him at the production of Mohan Rakesh’s Aadhe Adhure, directed by Rajinder Nath for Abhiyan theatre group in 1974, would soon leave me enthralled.

The young Om Puri, who probably had just passed out from the National School of Drama, created magic on stage with his spot-less rendition of Juneja, a friend and confidant of a dysfunctional couple. The stage lit up with his grainy baritone that soon became his signature.

Being closely linked to the Abhiyan theatre group, with which Puri worked on several plays, I had the good fortune of watching the man bring to life several characters, such as Nana Phadnavis in Vijay Tendulkar’s iconic political satire Ghasiram Kotwal ; and in the lead role of a hounded progressive professor in Govind Despande’s Udhwasta Dharamshala — right through rehearsals to the green room and on to the stage.

Years later, in 1990, when the scrawny young man had become a legendary presence in Indian cinema, including mainstream Hindi films, I had another chance to meet him — when he came to express solidarity with journalists from the Express group, who were marching for their rights.

I happened to mention my brief acquaintance with Puri to my friend Alok Tomar (who is now no more), who was with sister publication Janasatta .

Tomar, in turn, decided to jog his friend Puri’s memory. Turns out, there was no need. The star actor remembered everything from many years before.

The everyman that Puri became famous as in cinema was indeed his essence. But theatre was his second skin.

In Mumbai, he formed a theatre company, Majma, along with Naseeruddin Shah.

Then, after 25 long years in films, Puri returned to the Delhi stage in 2012 as a co-lead actor in the Punjabi adaptation of Tumhari Amrita , which he also directed.

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