Rohini Hattangadi & Om Puri Movies Together List — 7 Films

The shape of the work

The 1980s account for 71% of everything they made together. The 1980s belonged to Tarang; the 1990s to Raat. Rohini Hattangadi acted in every film; Om Puri acted in all of them. Strictly Hindi cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• They first shared screen space in Party (1984), but neither was the director's first choice for their roles. Govind Nihalani cast them after seeing their stage work — Hattangadi had just won a National Award for her role in Gandhi, and Puri was still fighting for film roles after arthouse hits.
• In Aghaat (1985), Puri played a factory worker and Hattangadi played his wife. The film's most intense scene — a silent argument over dinner — was entirely improvised. Puri started eating angrily, Hattangadi matched his rhythm by slamming a plate, and the director kept the camera rolling. That take made the final cut.
• Their Bengali film Debshishu (1985) was the first time either actor worked in a language they didn't speak fluently. They learned their lines phonetically on set. The film later became a reference point for how non-Bengali actors could be cast in regional cinema — a path actors like Irrfan Khan would follow years later.
• During the shoot of Raat (1992), Puri and Hattangadi shared a small guesthouse room for three weeks because the budget couldn't afford separate rooms. They spent nights rehearsing the horror scenes by candlelight — which accidentally made the final performance more convincing, since both were genuinely spooked.
• Hattangadi once said in an interview: 'Om and I never needed to talk about the scene. We'd just look at each other and know who would lead and who would follow. It was like dancing with someone who has the same feet.'