Quick answer: Om Puri, one of India’s most respected actors, died of a heart attack at his home in Andheri, Mumbai, on 6 January 2017, aged 66. A Padma Shri recipient and two-time National Film Award winner for Best Actor, he worked across Hindi parallel cinema, mainstream Bollywood and British and Hollywood films. He was cremated at the Oshiwara crematorium in Mumbai the same evening.
Om Puri’s death: what happened
Om Puri was found dead at his Mumbai home on the morning of Friday, 6 January 2017. News agencies reported that he had suffered a heart attack. He was 66.
Actor Shabana Azmi, a long-time colleague, shared the day’s arrangements on Twitter: a post-mortem at Cooper Hospital, then a stop at his residence, followed by the funeral at the Oshiwara electric crematorium in the evening. According to the Press Trust of India report of the cremation, his son Ishaan performed the last rites, and those present included Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher, Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan.
Tributes from the Prime Minister and the film industry
The Prime Minister’s Office posted a condolence message from Narendra Modi, recalling Om Puri’s long career in theatre and films. Messages also came from across the film world. An earlier version of this article quoted tweets from Mahesh Bhatt, Neha Dhupia, Boman Irani, Karan Johar, Madhur Bhandarkar, Anupam Kher, Shoojit Sircar, Kabir Khan, Akshay Kumar and Kamal Haasan. We have not reproduced those quotes here because we could not re-check the exact wording of every post, and the earlier version’s wording of the Prime Minister’s message did not match the condolence his office published.
Om Puri: profile at a glance
- Name: Om Puri (Om Prakash Puri)
- Born: 18 October 1950, Ambala, in present-day Haryana. His exact birth date was never recorded; he later settled on 18 October himself, and an earlier date (9 March 1950) was used for school records.
- Died: 6 January 2017, Mumbai, aged 66
- Training: National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi, and the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune
- Major honours: Padma Shri (1990); National Film Award for Best Actor twice, for Arohan and Ardh Satya; honorary OBE (2004); Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award (2009)
- Languages worked in: mainly Hindi, also English, Punjabi, Marathi, Kannada and others
Early life and training
Om Puri was born in Ambala into a Punjabi family. He trained at the National School of Drama, where he was in the 1973 class alongside Naseeruddin Shah, and then at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. His mainstream film debut came in the Marathi film Ghashiram Kotwal (1976), based on Vijay Tendulkar’s play of the same name.
An earlier version of this article dated Ghashiram Kotwal to 1972. The film was released in 1976.
Career highlights
Parallel cinema
Om Puri became a central figure of Hindi parallel cinema in the late 1970s and 1980s, working with directors such as Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani. Films from this period include Bhumika (1977), Aakrosh (1980), Sadgati (1981), Arohan and Ardh Satya (1983), both of which brought him the National Film Award for Best Actor. He also appeared in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi (1982) and the cult comedy Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983).
Television
On Doordarshan he appeared in Tamas, Kakkaji Kahin and Shyam Benegal’s Bharat Ek Khoj, all listed for 1988.
Mainstream Hindi films
From the 1990s he moved comfortably into commercial cinema, often in comic or character roles. These include Ghayal (1990), Maachis (1996), Chachi 420 (1997), China Gate (1998), Hera Pheri (2000), Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001), Chup Chup Ke (2006), Singh Is Kinng (2008), Dabangg (2010), Agneepath (2012) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015).
International films
Om Puri was one of the first Indian actors to build a steady career in British and American films. His international work includes City of Joy (1992), Wolf (1994), The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), My Son the Fanatic (1997), East Is East (1999), which earned him a BAFTA nomination, Charlie Wilson’s War (2007) and The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014). He also voiced Bagheera the panther in the Hindi version of Disney’s The Jungle Book (2016).
Om Puri films year by year (selected)
This list keeps the films from the original article, with release years corrected where needed.
| Year | Films |
|---|---|
| 1976 | Ghashiram Kotwal (Marathi) |
| 1977 | Bhumika, Godhuli |
| 1980 | Aakrosh, Bhavni Bhavai |
| 1981 | Sadgati |
| 1982 | Gandhi |
| 1983 | Arohan, Ardh Satya, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro |
| 1984 | Giddh |
| 1985 | Nasoor |
| 1987 | Mirch Masala |
| 1988 | Ek Hi Maqsad |
| 1990 | Ghayal |
| 1991 | Narsimha |
| 1992 | Raat |
| 1993 | Patang |
| 1994 | Woh Chokri |
| 1996 | Maachis |
| 1997 | Chachi 420 |
| 1998 | China Gate, Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha |
| 2000 | Hera Pheri |
| 2001 | Gadar: Ek Prem Katha |
| 2002 | Chor Machaaye Shor |
| 2003 | Dhoop |
| 2004 | Aan: Men at Work |
| 2005 | Deewane Huye Paagal |
| 2006 | Don: The Chase Begins Again, Chup Chup Ke |
| 2007 | Fool & Final |
| 2008 | Singh Is Kinng |
| 2009 | London Dreams |
| 2010 | Dabangg |
| 2011 | Don 2 |
| 2012 | Agneepath, OMG: Oh My God! |
| 2014 | Heartless |
| 2015 | Dirty Politics, Bajrangi Bhaijaan |
| 2016 | Ghayal Once Again, The Jungle Book (Hindi voice of Bagheera), Actor in Law (Pakistani film) |
| 2017 (after his death) | Viceroy’s House, Tubelight |
An earlier version of this article listed Mirch Masala under 1985 (it was released in 1987) and Actor in Law under 2017 (it was released in Pakistan in 2016). It has been corrected.
Films released after his death
Two of his films reached cinemas after he died: Gurinder Chadha’s Viceroy’s House (2017), set during the Partition of India, and Kabir Khan’s Tubelight (2017), starring Salman Khan. He had also been working on a Marathi film at the time of his death.
Personal life
Om Puri married Seema Kapoor, the sister of actor Annu Kapoor, in 1991; the marriage ended within months. In 1993 he married journalist Nandita Puri, and they had a son, Ishaan. The couple later separated.
An earlier version of this article said his son was born “in 2009”. That was a garbled line, and we have removed the year.
Legacy
Om Puri is remembered for an unusually wide range: angry, wounded men in the parallel cinema of the 1980s, warm comic turns in hits such as Hera Pheri, and international roles that made him familiar to audiences in Britain and the United States. If you are exploring his mainstream work, our collections of Sunny Deol’s best dialogues (from films such as Ghayal and Gadar) and Paresh Rawal’s funny dialogues (including Hera Pheri) cover two of the films he appeared in. For the wider story of Hindi cinema, read our guide to Bollywood, the Indian movie industry.
Frequently asked questions
When and how did Om Puri die?
Om Puri died on 6 January 2017 at his home in Andheri, Mumbai, after a heart attack, according to news agency reports. He was 66.
How old was Om Puri when he died?
He was 66. He was born in 1950; the birth date he used was 18 October 1950.
Which awards did Om Puri win?
He received the Padma Shri in 1990, won the National Film Award for Best Actor for Arohan and Ardh Satya, was made an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2004, and received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
What was Om Puri’s last film?
Viceroy’s House and Tubelight, both released in 2017, came out after his death.
Where did Om Puri train as an actor?
He studied at the National School of Drama in New Delhi and the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.
Details checked in October 2026 against his Wikipedia entry and its filmography, Press Trust of India and international agency reports of his death and cremation (January 2017), and press coverage of the Hindi voice cast of The Jungle Book (2016). Unverified quotes have been removed.
