When Om Puri Emerged As A Life-Saver For Naseeruddin Shah In A ‘Knife-Stabbing’ Attack – Deets Inside ( Photo Credit – IMDb )
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Today, as we celebrate International Friendship Day, we bring you a tale of two best friends from B-town. There have been some extraordinary friendship’s that we have witnessed in Bollywood throughout these years, but do y’all know once Om Puri saved his friend Naseeruddin Shah’s life after a knife attack? Scroll down to read the scoop below.
Both Om and Naseer have been there for each other through thick and thin. Today we bring you an anecdote from the Masoom actor’s autobiography titled Then One Day: A Memoir.
The incident took place back in 1971 at a restaurant when Naseeruddin Shah’s former friend Jaspal attacked him and Om Puri – who was sitting across the table – leapt in between and subdued the attacker and took Shah to the hospital immediately after the incident.
Naseeruddin Shah wrote in his memoir, “While the shooting for Bhumika (1977) was on, Om and I were in the middle of dinner when Jaspal, whom I had kept well away from for some time now, also entered and greeted Om. We ignored each other but, eyes fixed on me, he passed to sit on another table behind me, so I thought.”
The Masoom actor continued and wrote, “After a while, I was reminded of his presence by what felt like a short sharp punch in the middle of my back. I started to rise, wearily preparing myself for another free-for-all. Before I could move, Om with a strangled cry lunged at something behind me. I turned to see Jaspal holding a small knife, its point dripping blood, his hand raised to strike again, and Om and two others grappling to subdue him.”
Not just that, Om Puri also argued with the manager who wanted to wait for the cops to come before the ambulance arrived. Naseeruddin Shah wrote, “Om made the cardinal error of climbing in as well without permission and managed to rile the boss-man, thereby asking the cops to be gentle with me. He was ordered to get off and after considerable pleading with the goon in charge was allowed to stay. Neither of us had an idea where we were headed but I prayed it was not the police station.”
The actor concluded and wrote, “The bleeding had not seized, the pain was getting intense and these cops obviously had not quite understood the situation. After a few cursory questions to us, and some garbled transmissions over the radio in Marathi, we arrived at Cooper Hospital in Juhu.”
Well, Naseeruddin Shah was indeed lucky to have a friend like Om Puri.
