Tributes pour in as award-winning Indian actor Om Puri dies of a heart attack

Om Puri, the acclaimed Indian actor who appeared in hit films including “Gandhi”, “City of Joy” and “East is East”, died after suffering a heart attack. The award-winning character actor, whose career ranged from art-house Indian films to Hollywood epics, passed away at his home in Mumbai, a family member told the Press Trust of India. He was 66.

Wonderful person, great actor and with such impressive body of work, right from Satyajit Ray to any commercial Hindi film to films in US and Pakistan.

Scriptwriter Javed Akhtar

Puri made his debut in the mid-1970s before going on to star in a number of major Hindi hits as well as, controversially, in some Pakistani movies. But he also acted in major Hollywood hits, featuring alongside the likes of Jack Nicholson, Tom Hanks and Patrick Swayze. “Though I did try to resist commercial films for quite some time, I succumbed to it finally as money was equally important as art,” Puri wrote in his autobiography.

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