Priyadarshan & Om Puri Movies Together List — 8 Films

The shape of the work

The 2000s account for 88% of everything they made together. The 2000s belonged to Hera Pheri; the 2010s to Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal. Priyadarshan directed every film; Om Puri acted in all of them. Strictly Hindi cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Priyadarshan cast Om Puri in 'Kyon Ki' (2005) because he needed an actor who could play a stern psychiatrist with a hidden comic timing. Om Puri was initially hesitant, thinking the role was too serious, but Priyadarshan convinced him by showing him the script's twist — that his character would eventually break into a dance number.
• On the set of 'Malamaal Weekly' (2006), Om Puri would deliberately flub his lines in the first take to make Priyadarshan laugh. The director then used that energy to push Puri into wilder improvisations — the scene where Puri's character tries to sell a fake lottery ticket while sweating was entirely improvised after a failed first take.
• Their collaboration on 'Billu' (2009) directly led to Om Puri being cast in the Hollywood film 'The Hundred-Foot Journey' (2014). Priyadarshan recommended Puri to the film's casting director after seeing how naturally Puri played a small-town shopkeeper with dignity — a quality the Hollywood team was specifically looking for.
• Priyadarshan and Om Puri had a standing rule: whenever they finished a film, they'd share a single bottle of Old Monk rum at the wrap party. No exceptions. For 'Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal' (2012), which was their last film together, Puri was unwell but still showed up for that one drink.
• Om Puri once said about Priyadarshan: 'He is the only director who lets me be a clown without making me feel like one. He knows I can do tragedy, but he trusts me with comedy more than I trust myself.'