Om Puri worked with Ismail Merchant in two films.
And he will cherish memories of that association forever.
He spoke to A Ganesh Nadar about the director who went chasing after goats!
I acted for Ismail Merchant for the first time in 1992 (in In Custody).
It was his first directorial venture. He was a producer till then.
Shabana Azmi and Shashi Kapoor were also in the movie. (Ustad) Zakir Hussain gave the music for that movie. We shot it in 40 days in Bhopal.
Four years ago, we worked on Mystic Masseur in Trinidad. It is based on a book by Sir V S Naipaul.
You know, Naipaul does not like to give the rights of his book to anyone for making a movie.
Ismail called him and told him that he wanted to meet him.
Naipaul said, 'Please don't come and meet me. Your powers of persuasion are legendary. I will not be able to refuse you. You make the movie.'
He gave him permission over the phone.
Ismail was an Indian who went to the United States empty-handed. It is not easy to break into the American film market. But he did it. He made 42 feature films. That means one film every year for over 40 years.
His consistency is remarkable, commendable and unbelievable.
He was very good at directing, too. I remember the first day of shooting for In Custody.
He was sitting on his director's chair, looking into the camera. He liked the frame and said, 'Let's start shooting.'
Then, he started yelling suddenly, 'There are goats in the frame!'
He jumped off his chair to run after the goats and chase them away.
I told him he had many people whom he could order to chase the goats away. A producer could have done that, but not the director.
He started laughing and said, 'It's a habit of many years and it will be difficult to break.'
He was a very good host. Even (though the film was shot) on a small budget, nothing was ever lacking on the sets --in our transportation or place of stay. He was very indulgent with his people.
His budgets were small compared to those of other movies being made in the West. He still won six Oscars.
He was overactive and hyper, too! I met him a year-and-a-half ago at a film festival. He wasn't feeling very well. I told him to slow down.
You know, he has offices in Paris, New York and London. Call any office and they will tell you he is in the other one. Two days later, he will be somewhere else. I told him to stop hopping from plane to plane.
He loved to eat. His favourite area (in London) was Mayfair. He loved seafood and Lebanese food. He was a good cook, too.
I used to cook for him in Trinidad, as I had an apartment there. I used to make Dosas, Medu Vadas and other refreshments for him.
I remember I had made pumpkin once. He liked it so much that I had to tell him what I put in it: Lasoon (garlic), pyaaz (onion), amchur (mango powder used for flavouring), nimbu (lemon)...
He was a versatile cook. I was a domestic cook; he was a chef. I used to make chapattis; he used to make pastas.