Om Puri's 'wife No. 3'
'West Is West' producer Leslee Udwinis is deeply in love with the veteran actor
When you are in love, there is nothing like standing on top of a mountain and shouting it out to the world. And this is exactly what Leslee Udwin, the producer of West Is West, sequel to the smash hit East Is East, is doing as she talks about her feelings for her movie's lead actor Om Puri.
Twice luckyTaking her affectations for the senior actor to the next level, the 53-year-old Brit declares that she is so in love that she doesn't mind being his third wife. "I don't mind being his wife No. 3," Leslie lets us know, referring to Om's twice-married character in WIW as well as his much-publicised twice-married status in real life.
Heart on sleeve
According to sources, Leslie has carried a torch in her heart for Puri ever since they worked together in EIE in 1999. However, when the sequel was being shot in rural Punjab, the two really warmed up to each other. Apparently, the 61-year-old actor took it on himself to teach her Hindi. "Mera dil Om ke liye dhadkta hai," Leslee tells us in fluent Hindi."Thanks to him I feel so much a part of India and its culture. We're in Punjab where West Is West was shot. We are screening the film for all the people in the villages here who made it possible," she further adds.Om wrote out a speech in Punjabi for her, which she read out for the people of Punjab. "He wrote it for me. I don't understand a word of Punjabi. I just rattled off whatever he wrote. Oh yes, I trust him blindly," says the actor-producer.
Wife doesn't mind
When reminded that Om's wife won't like this open display of affection between her husband and his producer, she confidently retorts, "Oh she knows how I feel about Om. I don't think she minds at all. Om is my jaan."
