‘Patrick was touched by poverty in slums’
Om Puri Recalls His Time With ‘City Of Joy’ Co-Star
Mumbai | India
Updated On: 9/15/2009
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Om Puri is a sad man today. The death of Patrick Swayze, his friend and co-actor from Roland Joffe’s ‘City of Joy’ (1992, shot largely in Kolkata), in Los Angeles on Monday came as a rude shock to him. ‘‘I was saddened by the news of Patrick’s death,’’ Puri said on Tuesday. ‘‘I knew he was suffering from cancer for the last year and a half and spoke to him a few months ago when I requested him to write the foreword for my biography written by my wife Nandita Puri. He complied.’’

Puri said Patrick had promised him that he would make a trip to India in November to release the book. ‘‘Now that remains an unrealized dream for both him and me,’’ he added.

He also remembers Patrick telling him that he was intimidated by him (Om) because he reminded him of his own father in many ways.

He remembers his first meeting with the American actor on the sets of ‘City of Joy’ in Kolkata. Puri played Hasari Pal, a rickshawpuller in the film, and was asked by Joffe to give Patrick a ride in the rickshaw barely minutes after the actor had landed in Kolkata.

‘‘Patrick was jet-lagged. He had flown 24 hours to get to Kolkata and, within a few minutes of his arrival, Joffe wanted me to take him around Kolkata. I asked him why he was insisting on it and wondered whether we should give Patrick time to settle down first. But Joffe said he wanted to give Patrick a culture shock; and so I took my rickshaw that was parked at the Oberoi Grand, dressed in a lungi and banian, put the ghamccha (a soft towel rickshaw-pullers wear) on my mouth and took Patrick around the small lanes of Kolkata.’’

When an elderly gentleman saw Patrick being pulled around by Om in the same spot twice he thought the actor was a corrupt rickshaw puller who was taking the white man for a ride; and he even admonished Om, who he obviously didn’t recognize. Om also recollected how the Hollywood actor, who was a huge draw way back in the ’90s, was so simple and down to earth.

He says, ‘‘Patrick was touched by the poverty he saw in the slums. He was a follower of Buddhism and he wanted to reach out to the poor.’’ The Bollywood actor also remembers how the ‘Dirty Dancing’ star took two urchins for a swim to the Oberoi Grand.

‘‘When the hotel staff objected because the boys were shabbily clad, Patrick personally went and bought them fresh new swimming trunks and took them back for a swim,’’ he says. Om Puri and Patrick Swayze traveled all around the world for the premieres of the ‘City of Joy’. ‘‘We went to London, Tokyo and Australia,’’ says Om.

Apparently in Tokyo Patrick locked himself inside his hotel suite and refused to meet the media. ‘‘Neither the producers nor any of his staff had the courage to knock on Patrick’s door and call him for the media interaction,’’ recalls Om. ‘‘So I mustered the courage and went up to his suite. I told him ‘Patrick please put aside whatever is bothering you for a few hours and let’s meet the media’.’’ The American actor agreed and Om and he struck a deep rapport. When the Hollywood actor talked of flying to Australia on the following day, Om told him he wasn’t invited.

‘‘Patrick was shocked. He called the producer Jack Eberts and told him that he wouldn’t fly to Australia unless I accompanied him.’’ When the producer pointed out that it was a Saturday and I didn’t have an Australian visa, Patrick actually got the visa office opened on a Sunday and ensured that I travelled to Australia with him.’’ In Australia at the charity premiere, a slightly tipsy Patrick apparently told the waiting media, ‘‘Om Puri is terrific in ‘City of Joy’. If he doesn’t win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for this film, I will personally kill someone.’’ ‘Dirty Dancing’ star Swayze dies Shooting Till The Last, Patrick Goes Down Fighting Against Cancer.

Los Angeles: Patrick Swayze personified a particular kind of masculine grace both on and off screen, from his roles in films like ‘Dirty Dancing’ and ‘Ghost’ to the way he carried himself in his long fight with pancreatic cancer.

Swayze died from the illness on Monday in Los Angeles, his publicist said. He was 57. “Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months,” Annett Wolf said.

Fans of the actor were saddened to learn in March 2008 that he was suffering from a deadly form of cancer. He continued working despite the diagnosis, putting together a memoir with his wife and shooting ‘The Beast’, a drama series for which he had already made the pilot. Swayze said he chose not to use painkillers while making ‘The Beast’ because they would have taken the edge off his performance. The show drew 1.3 million viewers when the 13 episodes ran this year.

When he first went public with the illness, some reports gave him only weeks to live, but his doctor said his situation was “considerably more optimistic” than that. Swayze acknowledged that time might be running out given the grim nature of the disease.

“I’d say five years is pretty wishful thinking,” Swayze said in early 2009. “Two years seems likely if you’re going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I’d better get a fire under it.”

And that’s exactly what he did. In February, Swayze wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post titled, ‘I’m Battling Cancer. How About Some Help, Congress?’ in which he urged senators and representatives to vote for the maximum funding for the National Institutes of Health to fight cancer as part of the stimulus package. Celebrities and fans inspired by Swayze’s struggle poured out their condolences. Demi Moore, who played Swayze’s fiancee in ‘Ghost’, wrote on Tweeter: “Patrick you are loved by so many and your light will forever shine in all of our lives.”

Swayze was born in 1952 in Houston, the son of Jesse Swayze and choreographer Patsy Swayze. Patrick earned three Golden Globe nominations, for ‘Dirty Dancing’, ‘Ghost’ and ‘To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar’, which allowed him to toy with his masculine image. Patrick became a star with his role of a misunderstood bad boy Johnny Castle in ‘Dirty Dancing’. The film also gave him the chance to utter the now-classic line, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”

Off-screen, he was an avid conservationist who was moved by his time in Africa to shine a light on “man’s greed and absolute unwillingness to operate according to Mother Nature’s laws,” he said in 2004.

THE TIME OF HIS LIFE

Dance always played a big role in Patrick Swayze’s life. His mother owned a Houston dance studio, where he met his future wife, Lisa Niemi, when they were teenagers. He achieved stardom playing dance instructor Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing (1987)
Won acclaim for his role as a surfing bank robber in ‘Point Break’ (1991), which also starred Keanu Reeves
His first movie was ‘Skatetown, USA’ in 1979. His ouvre include films like ‘The Outsiders’ and ‘Red Dawn,’ and TV miniseries ‘North and South,’ ‘Road House’ and ‘To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar’.

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