Mumbai: After several failed attempts to interview Om Puri in the past two weeks, an interaction was finally scheduled at 11 AM today, but fate had other plans as the veteran actor breathed his last this morning.
Puri, aged 66, died at his residence today after a massive heart attack.
The actor had been giving interviews for his upcoming film "Rambhajan Zindabad" and we were to talk about the same, on December 23.
That day, however, Puri's phone was answered by his manager, who informed that the actor had undergone a tooth-operation and so won't be able to speak.
What followed was a series of missed opportunities to interview him, for nearly 14 days. Sometimes he was shooting, or the interviewer was busy and in between there were also days, where we were told "he is not well".
Finally, a date and time was fixed to do the interview.
Yesterday, when we called him, the actor cut the call twice which was followed by an automated text response, "Hi...I am busy, Please call my manager."
It was, however, in the evening that his associates called saying that Puri was free and ready to give the interview.
But, as fate would have it, the interview again couldn't happen due to certain circumstances.
In the brief conversation with his associate which lasted not more than 40 seconds, Puri could be heard in the background talking to someone in his usual jolly style.
He assured us that today morning at 11 AM, he will be free from his work and we will finally do the interview. However, the veteran actor died this morning, hours before we could talk.