Nandita Puri

As your husband’s biographer, which came first: loyalty to the reader or your husband?

The two didn’t conflict except for a few secrets he didn’t want me to share and I respected that.

So why was he so angry with you when some excerpts appeared in a magazine?

He thought I leaked the sex bits out of context in order to sell the book, which wasn’t the case.

You didn’t show him the pre-pub book?

He’s such a slow reader. I had to practically hold a gun to his head to make him read the book—and he hasn’t yet finished it. 

Om declared he wasn’t going to spare his wife for spreading lurid gossip about him....

I was hurt because the book was written with his full cooperation and includes everything from his hard childhood to his rise to fame.

...and it nearly broke your marriage?

There was no threat to our marriage because every single thing in the book had Om’s consent.

Was the squabbling a publicity gimmick?

If it was a gimmick, we’d have been in the loop and prevented the embarrassment. Besides, we don’t need gimmicks to sell Om Puri’s story.

Your marriage was always tempestuous....

Om is the short-tempered one, throws whisky glasses when he’s angry. But just once I got up on a stool to get his plaque down and threw it across the floor. He never let me forget it.

Would you say yours is a happy marriage?

Yes, I think we’re one of Bollywood’s most together couples. Om likes to combine his shoots with family holidays so my son Ishaan and I go with him everywhere.

Your book has tributes to Om from many greats. Which did he like best?

Patrick Swayze. Om hadn’t met him for 15 years and was very moved by what Swayze said.

If there is one thing you could change about Om Puri, what would it be?

His selective memory. He has this annoying habit of blotting out inconvenient truths.