“News channels are like vultures, they were hardly kind to Om Puri” – Naseeruddin Shah : Bollywood News

Naseeruddin Shah Sahab in an exclusive with Faridoon Shahryar spoke at length about his dear friend Om Puri Sahab who passed away recently in unfortunate circumstances. Naseer Sahab speaks about why he is angry with Om ji and how news channels are like vultures who were not kind to Om ji as well.

“News channels are like vultures, they were hardly kind to Om Puri” – Naseeruddin Shah

Recently you had this loss of Mr. Om Puri when he passed away. You have spoken about him in your autobiography as well how he saved you when Jaspal attacked you with a knife. Om Puri sahab always spoke about you in very glowing terms
I have to state that the film industry will go on and nobody is indispensable. They can do without anybody providing their films keep making money. It's a loss to his loved ones and is a potentially great old age cut short. I'm grieved of course but I'm angry with him for not looking after himself. He had responsibilities to look after. That's the path he chose but the fact is he had very full life; he achieved everything he wanted to, considering where he started and where he got to. The person who couldn't speak English did 25 English language films. He came close to being nominated for Oscars; he got OBE and sort of things. I think he was pretty satisfied, tript jisko kehte hai career wise. He didn't had the edge to do anything more. The fact this is personal life was in a mess, was a sad thing.

It also came to light that he was hurt with how the news channels tried to bully him in the last few months of his life. It was hurtful to many people.
Yeah! News channels, they're like vultures, they feed on these kind of things. They were hardly kind to him; he was going through a very bad phase. He was very unhappy and all they could do was to mock him and report unsavoury facts which they shouldn't really have been doing. They should've left him alone. He made mistakes, no doubt, but who doesn't? I think it's a good thing that he'll be remembered with regards and love. If it could've gone on for few more years I don't know what his state would've been. So I pray for his soul to rest in peace and I'm sure he's in a happier place than he was here.