The Om Puri interview which couldn't happen

After several failed attempts to interview On Puri in the past two weeks, an interaction was finally scheduled at 11 am on Friday, but fate had other plans as the veteran actor breathed his last this morning.

Puri, aged 66, died at his residence on Friday 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 us that the actor had undergone a tooth operation and so wouldn'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 for the interview.

On Thursday, 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 on Friday morning, at 11 am, he would be free from his work and we would finally conduct the interview.

However, the veteran actor died this morning, hours before we could talk.