Important movies of Amrish Puri
Mr. India
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I IT TAKES GREAT CONFIDENCE for an actor to do outlandish, funky roles with catchphrases like "Mogambo Khush Hua" and "Dong Kabhi Wrong Nahin Hota", and make them work. Not only did Amrish Puri make these over-the-top caricature villains work (in 'Mr. India' and 'Tehelka' respectuively), he made them so popular that they are remembered long after memories of the films they appeared in may have faded. Not surprising then that he often says that he is a "lovable villain."
Brother of actor Madan Puri,Amrish slogged away at a government job, satisfying his creative urges doing Hindi plays (over fifty of them) with directors like Satyadev Dubey, when at age 40, films beckoned. At the age when most actors start taking it easy after about two decades of work behind them, Amrish Puri was starting his career. Who could predict that some years down the line, he would be the highest paid, most in-demand character actor and villain?
It was the art cinema movement that gave Amrish Puri his first crack at the movies. He did films like 'Nishaant', 'Bhumika' and 'Manthan' with Shyam Benegal, the unforgettable role of Om Pun's father in 'Ardh Satya', but it was 'Hum Paanch' that finally made the commercial filmwallas look at him seriously.There were films like 'Vidhaata' and 'Hero', but big time stardom came with 'Mr. India', in which he played the mega-lomaniac Mogambo and 'Nagina' in which he was an' evil tantric.
Steven Spielberg was so impressed with him that he cast him as the main villain, again as a terrifying tantric, in 'Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom'. Hollywood offers came pouring in for the ruggedly good-looking actor with the deep voice, but Amrish Puri decided to stay on in India and make the best of the opportunities offered to him.For an actor of his calibre, it must have been tedious to play an endless line of assembly line villains being whipped by actors half his size ("chocolate boys" he called them contemptuously), but there were directors like Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Subhash Ghai, Rakesh Roshan and Priyadarshan who gave him the really stimulating parts to satisfy the actor in him. Then, suddenly with films like 'Gardish', 'Muskurahat', 'Phool Aur Kaante', 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Lejayenge', 'Viraasat', 'Pardes', 'Chachi 420', 'Doli Sajake Rakhna','China Gate' and 'Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate', a new hase started for Amrish Puri, in which he was offered the choicest character parts, and he could finally let others do the regular villain roles he rejected. Even now at the peak of his success, he takes time off to do a play, still goes after the Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani film, even as the best mainstream offers come to him. He really has no competition — Amrish Puri remained class apart. |
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