20 Facts About The Evergreen Villain Amrish Puri

Perhaps the most fondly remembered villain in Bollywood, Amrish Puri Amrish Lal Puri was born on 22nd June, 1932 in Pun >> Read More... led a great career and left a legacy that will perhaps be remembered forever and mentioned every time great cinema is mentioned. He had a voice that he olded according to his career but always had the quality that made him a distinct actor. He passed away in 2005, long before a lot of us could become acquainted with the phenomenon that is Amrish Puri, but through the following 20 facts about the actor, we will try to get a little closer to the actor.

1. Family

Amrish Puri followed his elder brothers, who were Chaman Puri Chaman Puri was a Hindi film actor who worked in o >> Read More... and Madan Puri Madan Puri played the evil men character in his ac >> Read More... , while entering into the industry. These two had been already leading a pretty successful career as villains in the industry and soon Amrish Puri joined them.

2. Critical And Commercial Acclaim

The first time that the world of cinema began to acknowledge Amrish Puri was with his movie Hum Paanch, which released in 1980. A while later he appeared in Mr. India as Mogambo. This was one of those performances that he is remembered for even today, more than 11 years after his death.

3. His Later Roles

Despite playing the role of villain in most of his films, there was never a lack of diversity in his work. Even after the newer actors like Priyanka Chopra Born on 18 July 1982, Priyanka Chopra is an establ >> Read More... came into the industry, he continued to have abundance of work and even more offers. He also appeared in the film ‘ Aitraaz Click to look into! >> Read More... ’ as Priyanka Chopra’s husband.

4. The Beginning

Amrish Puri was born before Independence, in a pre-partition Lahore. He debuted into Indian cinema at the age of 40, after he had spent several years polishing his skills in theatre as a stage actor. He was of a strong opinion that starting his career at an earlier age would have been a mistake and he would never have been half as successful had he come on television earlier.

5. His Friends

Amrish Puri did not shift to India alone after the partition. He came here with his friends, many of which entered and became big names in the industry. One of these people was Yash Chopra Film maker Yash Chopra is recognized as the ‘king >> Read More... , who was regarded as one of the most talented film-makers of the film industry.

6. His Entry Into The Industry

The actor had been acting theatre all his life, but decided to enter the film industry when he realized that if he continued to act in theatre, he would not be able to pay all of his bills. His brothers had already entered the industry, which inspired him to do the same. Then, Amrish Puri came into the industry, and then went on to Hollywood. He also did films like ‘Gandhi’, which went on to be known as one of his best international films.

7. Before Films

Before he started to act, Amrish Puri acted in theatre and was a popular artist who worked under Pt Satyamev Dubey, who was also his mentor. His passion for acting was pretty clear throughout and then trained himself and his voice to become the baritone for which he is known.

8. His Failure

Amrish Puri did not get the first screen test that he gave, after which he found himself another job. It was for an insurance company called ESIC (Employee’s State Insurance Corporation).

9. His Achievements

His Achievements cannot possibly be counted. He has acted in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Punjabi, Hollywood, Marathi and Kannada films. And by 1979, he had already established himself as a theatre artist and won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. For ten years between the 1980s and the 1990s, almost every movie had him as its villain.

10. Amrish Puri And Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg is an American producer, director >> Read More...

Amrish Puri was a part of the incredibly popular Indiana Jones series, when he appeared in 1984 Temple of Doom film as the villain. Here, Steven called him the best villain he had ever had, which is something Amrish Puri was proud of for all of his life. He had even shaved his head for his role in the film, and it was the first time ever that he had shaved his head. Amrish would always said that Spielberg would be extremely pleased with his performance in each of his scenes and even called him the ‘real devil’.

11. His Love For Hats

Amrish Puri is seen wearing hats in a lot of his films. It was not just a coincident. He really loved hats. So much so, that he had more than 200 hats, which he had collected from all over the globe.

12. His Last Days

The actor’s last film that released was Kachchi Sadak in the year 2006. The actor then died after losing his battle with cerebral hemorrhage.

13. His Best Films

Some of Amrish Puri’s best films, for which he is remembered even today, are Karan Arjun Click to look into! >> Read More... , Nayak, “Chachi 420”, Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha Ek Prem Katha is a Hindi TV series that airs on DD >> Read More... , Mr. India, Koyla, Diljale, and of course, as Kajol’s father in “ Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge Click to look into! >> Read More... ”, where he is praised relentlessly for his dialogue delivery, especially in the last scene, when he utters the last dialogue and sets Kajol free.

14. His Views On The Industry

Amrish Puri understood the workings of the film industry very well after spending several years in the industry. He would often give the advice that an actor needs to have an unshakeable support system of his family, friends and colleagues if he/she wants to survive in a place as fickle as the film industry. Perhaps that is why, despite playing the villain for so many years, all his co-stars remember him with love and warmth.

15. His Education

Even now the actors do not take their education seriously, so back then, it was extremely rare for someone who was successful to have higher education. Amrish Puri however, was among the very few of his generation to have completed his education in college too, from Shimla. In his college and in his school, he was always eager to be a part of the dramatics societies.

16. His Wife

When he got rejected in his screen test, he joined an insurance firm as a senior division clerk, a job which he kept even six years after he had become a part of the film industry. During this job he met the woman who would someday be his wife, Urmila Divekar.

17. His Views On Being A Villain

He stated that it is easy to be a good man, but to be a bad man, to do things as an actor that repulse you as a human and do it in a way that convinces your audience and repels them too, and to it all with great finesse, is the true forte of a Bollywood villain.

18. His Advice To The Younger Actors

Amrish Puri had worked in an era when the physique of an actor, their six pack abs, did not make much of a difference. At most, they were supposed to be good looking and the only compulsory quality that the actors had to have was that they were supposed to be talented. He strongly believed that a good body do not make you a good actor.

19. His Original Dream

Even though he had bags full of offers for films after his role as Mogambo, all of them were for the role of a villain. The actor had actually wanted to be a leading protagonist, but instead got acclaimed as the antagonist but because he found his roles challenging and was never sort of praise, love and wealth, along with artistic satisfaction, it never bothered him that he was always the villain. He believes that since he worked so hard, and so relentlessly, that people recognized his talent and his worth and the film-makers always wanted to cast him.

20. The Importance Of Gadar In His Life

Gadar was a very crucial film in the actor’s career. This was not just because the film was so successful. A huge reason for why he loved the film and why it was so close to his heart was also that it marked his return to the Gaiety theater in Shimla, which was the theatre where he had first started to work in.