Personality of the month: March 2005                                                 www.nihindia.org

A tribute to the actor Amrish Puri

        For moviegoers, Amrish Puri was undoubtedly the most feared actor of the last two decades. He was also one of the most respected. Puri's bulky build, belligerent manner and the incinerating impact of his bulbous, laser eyes cowed down two generations of even the least rabbity heroes. But as the outpouring of accolades at the actor's recent demise testify, Puri had transcended the mere 'villain' tag. Actor Amrish Puri died at the Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai on 11^th January, 2005 from a brain haemorrhage at the age of 72. 

Amrish Puri classics
Year	Film	Director
1977	Bhumika	Shyam Benegal
1981	Hum Paanch	Babu
1985	Meri Jung	Subhash Ghai
1986	Nagina	Harmesh Malhotra
1987	Mr India	Shekhar Kapur
1989	Tridev	Rajiv Rai
1989	Ram Lakhan	Subhash Ghai
1991	Phool Aur Kaante	Kuku Kohli
1995	Karan Arjun	Rakesh Roshan
1995	Dilwale Dulhaniya Le  Jayenge	Aditya Chopra
1996	Ghatak	Rajkumar Santoshi
1997	Virasat	Priyadarshan
1997	Pardes	Subhash Ghai
1999	Taal	Subhash Ghai
2001	Gadar	Anil Sharma
2004	Hulchul	Priyadarshan

Puri was born on June 22, 1932 and made his Bollywood debut in 1971 with Reshma Aur Shera. Seventeen years younger than his elder brother, character actor Madan Puri, Amrish too veered towards films in the 1950s but was summarily rejected for hero roles. Puri refused to accept minor roles and kept the home fires burning by doing theatre and voiceovers for advertisements. He was almost 40 when, in 1971, he landed a role in Reshma Aur Shera. But most of it ended up on the editing floor. He had to wait another half-a-decade but he finally made a mark with two Benegali films – Nishant, in which he played a landowner who abuses his power, and Bhumika, in which he played with astonishing authority Smita Patil's autocratic older lover who keeps her cloistered in his house.

His career-defining role came with Mr India in 1987, as Mogambo. The line, “Mogambo khush hua”, became one of the most famous in the history of Hindi cinema. His credits include dozens of Hindi-language films, gained international attention as Khan in 1982's acclaimed Gandhi. He was best known to American audiences as Indiana Jones's adversary in the 1984 film 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ where he played the role of Mola Ram. He shaved his head for the role of the villian Mola Ram in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). It created such an impression that he kept his head shaved for future roles too and became one of the most popular villains in Hindi Cinema.  For the last few years he widened he horizon to successful play some very challenging character role, like the India-lover NRI of Pardes. His versatility as an actor was demonstrated by him also doing comedy. Aitraaz was his latest release.

       We will miss this excellent actor but his movies will ever be cherished by the people.

                        Gutti Ravikumar

                                                       guttir@mail.nih.gov