“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again — and you might end up like Indian film actor Amrish Puri,” read the text along with the Google Doodle on June 22, 2019, to commemorate the 87th birth anniversary of one of Indian cinema’s most memorable villain. Such was the journey of the man who was best at being the worst on-screen.
One can argue that you need a great villain to make a great hero, Amrish Puri assumed that space. And how. The seasoned actor, with his baritone, big eyes, and twitched forehead, struck terror in the hearts of heroes, heroines and fans alike. Whether it was as Mogambo, Durjan Singh or Baba Bhairo Nath, this student of theatre doyens, Ebrahim Alkazi and Satyadev Dubey, made baddies in Bollywood memorable. He created his own brand of villainy. While pages can be filled in appreciation of Puri’s vast canvas as a villain, that’s not all there is to him.
The Punjab-born actor was an anomaly in Bollywood. He travelled a long-winded path over decades to find his place in showbiz. When he gave his first screen test in 1953, at 21 years old, he was berated by the director for his “harsh” face and “scary” voice. He was told by filmmaker Devendra Goel, “You can never play the lead”. Despite being introduced to film directors by brothers Madan and Chaman Puri, who were successfully working in the film industry, he got no offers. Not willing to live off his brother’s income in Mumbai, Puri took up a job at Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). Along with it, he also managed a radio spot at All India Radio in 1954, courtesy his “God-gifted” voice.
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“Till 1975, I remained very active in AIR plays and Hawa Mahal programmes. The payment as per the government standards was so nominal, but it brought me a lot of popularity amongst the radio listeners,” Puri shared in his autobiography, The Act of Life. Years passed, but that urge to act remained. The actor in him finally found an outlet as he enrolled himself to Ebrahim Alkazi’s Natya Academy in 1961, “What if I could not act in films, I could take to theatre.” His father perceived cinema as a “disrespectful, degrading” career, but approved of his son doing stage shows.
Alkazi gave him the lead role in his very first play, Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge. Soon, he got under the wings of Satyadev Dubey, in whose play Bichhoo (the Hindi adaptation of Molière’s Scorpion) Puri played the lead role of a servant in a nawab’s house. His breakout performance came in Dubey’s Andha Yug. His portrayal of Dhritrashtra left everyone spellbound where he didn’t blink for 15 minutes straight, an experience which came in handy when he had to play dead in Feroz Khan’s Qurbani in a fish tank. He became a theatre wizard with the success of plays like Yayati, Hayavadan (both written by Girish Karnad), Sakharam Binder, Chup Court Chalu Hai! and Adhe Adhure, which had him playing four characters.
Puri credited Dubey for whatever he learnt about acting and emoting. He wrote in his book, “I salute my guru, Pt. Satyadev Dubey, and I’m indebted to him for whatever he ingrained in me in this lifetime.” In 1967, he got to be in front of the camera for the first time courtesy Yash Johar. “Yash Johar was coordinating with foreign producers and he introduced me to the American director Alan for the MGM TV series, Maya Adventures,” Puri shared. He did three episodes of the show and was paid Rs 2400, with which he managed to travel by air to Mumbai for the first time.
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Thus began Amrish Puri’s journey as a film actor. But the beginnings were not hunky dory despite rigorous training, theatre experience, and a Best Actor award in Maharashtra State Drama Competition. He was first duped by Dev Anand’s assistants and was tricked into doing a brief role in the veteran’s 1970 film Prem Pujari. He felt “humiliated” and “embarrassed”. Then, he managed to get himself cast in OP Ralhan’s Hulchul, Sunil Dutt’s Reshma Aur Shera and Chetan Anand’s Hindustan Ki Kasam, but all of these became mere additions to his filmography on Wikipedia.
In 1974, Girish Karnad insisted Puri play an evil village head, Chandra Gowda, who strikes terror all around, in his Kannada film Kaadu. Despite resistance from the film’s producers, Girish, who had seen Puri perform on stage, didn’t budge, “Find me someone exactly like Amrish in the Kannada film industry and I’ll drop him!” Kaadu released with Puri in the lead role and the world took notice. “Kaadu was a film destined to change my life, my career, and my social status,” noted Puri. Shyam Benegal watched his performance and took him as zamindar in his critically acclaimed film Nishant (1975). This was followed by Manthan (1976), Bhumika (1977) and Aakrosh (1980), and there was no looking back for Amrish Puri.
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Even in minor roles, the versatile star cast an everlasting impression, at times overwhelmingly outdoing the leading man. Who would have thought more than the sweet Arun Verma (Anil Kapoor), people would remember Mr India for Mogambo? Despite his villainous turn, he got the most quotable dialogues: ‘Mogambo khush hua!’, ‘Jaa Simran jaa, jee le apni zindagi’ (DDLJ), ‘Itne Tukde karunga ki tu pehchana nahi jayega’ (Gadar). Even Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, who hired him to play Mola Ram in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984, often told him, “You are the real devil!” The filmmaker also repeated in his various interviews, “Amrish is my favourite villain. The best the world has ever produced and ever will”.
His acting prowess was not limited to just villainous roles. He delivered an enchanting performance as Sunny Deol’s upright father from Banaras in the revenge drama Ghatak, as strict, true-to his roots patriarch in DDLJ, and as a kind-hearted patriarch in Virasat. He shone just as well in his comic turn in Chachi 420. His son Rajeev Puri described him as “Upright and a true karmayogi.” He stuck to his principles, even if that meant walking out of a film for not being paid his desired fees.
In an interview with Rediff, the actor had shared why he once refused to do a NN Sippy film, “I have to get what is my due. I do not compromise on my acting, do I? So why should I accept less? People come to watch me act. The producer is getting money from his distributors because I am there in the film. Then am I wrong in charging my producers? As for the Sippy film, I was signed long back, with a promise that work on the movie would start in a year. It is three years now, and my market rate has risen. If he cannot pay me that much, I cannot do his film, right?”
Puri never compromised with work and was an exceedingly hardworking actor, completely given to the director. He had no ego hassles with his directors even after he became a renowned name in the film circle. Kuku Kohli, who cast him as a don, Nageshwar, in his debut film Phool Aur Kaante, told The Hindu, “When I signed Amrish ji in my debut film, he was already an established name. I had my own apprehensions about him. But to my surprise, he had no ego hassles with Ajay Devgan, Madhoo and others. Being new, they would give many retakes but Amrish ji would take it calmly. I used to be amazed at his organisational skills. He didn’t keep a secretary to take care of his dates or monetary matters. He would manage them on his own.”
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Throughout his career, Puri was neck deep in work and worked in multiple languages, including Hindi, Punjabi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and English. Yet, a family man, Puri never brought work home and never discussed films on the dining table. He may have been ‘pyaar ka dushman’ in many films, but off-screen his love story with wife Urmila Diveker was Bollywoodish. Both met at the ESIC office where Urmila assisted Puri. Both were shy to not talk to each other. It took Puri six months to approach her. “It was love at first sight. I was just fascinated by her presence,” Puri wrote in his autobiography. The two married in January 1959, after fighting their orthodox families, and had two children, a son Rajiv and a daughter Namarata.
His children remember him as someone larger than life. His son recalled in an interview with Filmfare, “He was strict but never unreasonable. Someone who urged us to speak the truth. He urged us to follow the three Ps – patience, perseverance and persistence. Dad was particular about having nutritious food.” Rajiv revealed that his father loved watches and Mercedez Benz cars, “Each time he’d go abroad, he’d visit a showroom and call me up excitedly, ‘Tikoo (my pet name) I’ve bought such a handsome looking watch!’ Another fascination he had was for Mercedez Benz cars. He’d keep buying the latest editions. We have maintained his 1983 model in showroom condition.”
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Puri passed away on January 12, 2005, after developing a blood disorder (myelodysplastic syndrome) due to an accident which took place on the sets of the 2003 film Jaal The Trap. “He suffered serious injuries on his face and eye. He lost blood and consequently had to undergo a blood transfusion. I guess, something went wrong there because in the coming years, he developed a blood disorder (myelodysplastic syndrome). It began with weakness and reduced appetite. When he came to know about the fatality of his illness he was shaken. But he had an iron will. He wanted to project a strong side to the world. He knew that at 72 there was little that he could repair and that his graph was going down,” Rajiv recalled. The actor was last seen in the 2005 film Kisna: The Warrior Poet.
‘They don’t make men like that anymore’ is a phrase that aptly fits the outsized appeal of Amrish Puri and his ability to straddle the world of commercial and art cinema. Spielberg’s handwritten note to Puri captures the impact of his art and his stature off the camera. “To my best villain, you are unique in all the world as a bad guy and in the real world we live in. You are a terrific human being. I loved every minute of our work together.”
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Amrish Puri: Dismissed for his ‘harsh face’ early in career, Bollywood’s favourite baddie was called ‘the best world has ever produced’ by Steven Spielberg – The Indian Express
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