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On his first award
Awards do give you happiness, strength, faith. They give you purpose in life, consolidate your belief in yourself but at the same time, one shouldn't sit on them. It's a happy moment to be cherished, shared with friends and then forgotten. That's how you move ahead. Of course, you don't forget your first moment of glory, happiness, recognition.
My first National Award was for Arohan -- a film that has not even been seen. It was only released in Bihar and Bengal. Produced by the West Bengal government it was based on a true story of a small farmer who fought for his small piece of land for 14 years.
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He won the case after 14 years and ironically died after a year-and-a-half. I wasn't even aware at that time that there was something like a National Award. This was in 1981. It was an evening at the French embassy where they were honouring the unit of Bhavni Bhavai. There was Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Ketan Mehta, Amol Palekar.
Around 11 pm, Amol Palekar announced that the National Awards had been announced -- so and so and so and so got the award, he said, 'and this guy here, Om Puri got the best actor for Arohan.' I said, 'Ah!', and everybody congratulated me. My photograph was in the paper the next day, of course it was a very happy moment.
Om Puri with Linda Bassett in East Is East, the film that made him a star in Britain
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