Naseeruddin Shah made me a non-vegetarian: Om Puri

Besides carving a niche while playing together some of the pivotal roles in Hindi cinema, Bollywood greats and friends Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri bonded over food and loved having dishes like brain curry.

"It was Naseer who turned me into a non-vegetarian," said Puri while mentioning their gastronomical journeys in old Delhi during the launch of Shah's memoirs "And Then One Day" in the national capital last night.

Shah and Puri were classmates in the National School of Drama and have been friends for more than 40 years now. But few know that Puri was a vegetarian when he joined NSD.

"One day Naseer and I were having a meal together and he asked me to try some meat. When I refused, he insisted that I should eat my rice with some gravy from the non-veg curry that he was eating. I tried and liked it. Then on another day he made me taste a small piece of meat and I liked that too.

Eventually he made me a non-vegetarian too!" The veterans have acted together in iconic films like "Aakrosh", "Droh Kaal", "Sparsh", "Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro", "Ardh Satya", "Paar", "Mandi" and "Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai".

At the launch, the book, published by Hamish Hamilton, was introduced by Chiki Sarkar, Publisher of Penguin Random House. A conversation between Shah and naturalist-author Pradip Krishen followed during which Shah spoke about his book, his life and journey. Shah also read out the passage from the book in which he talked about standing at his father's grave.

Even while reading what he had already penned, his eyes turned moist and there was an unusual silence in the auditorium.

Shah's actor wife Ratna Pathak Shah was among a host of other people present at the launch.