Amazing Amrish
Hi Folks,
Given that I am in the middle of my film development, don’t do much writing nowadays other than analyzing ad nauseum, my script. But having said that, the bad guys, the villians, have always fascinated me way more than the good guys. The villian has got to be the strong actor, the good one can be bad, but the bad had better be damn good. That being said, here is a reprint of my tribute to the late Amrish Puri. If ever there was a fine actor, it has got to be Amrish. This was written by me, a few hours after I got the news of his demise in 2005.
FYI—- Hi Folks,
Just got the news – Amrish Puri is no more. Let ’s pay a tribute to
one of India, nay one of the finest actors, period, of this era. A
screen presence and a voice which was perhaps matched only by the
likes of AB, Suresh Oberoi and Kabir Bedi, has passed into eternity.
Actually let us celebrate a life, which spread the expanse of the
creative world. From Mumbai to LA, from Shekhar Kapoor to Steven
Spielberg, he was a true master craftsman.
Like most who are tops in the trade, he had a deep and profound
background in theater and had lent his voice to radio. The brother of
late character actor Madan Puri struggled for more than a decade with
some miniscule roles in Reshma aur Shehra (AB’s first film too, along
with Sanjay Dut’s), Hindustan Ki Kasam. However, in the 80’s and the
90’s he truly came into his own. As the era of a villian changed from
a conniving one to a macho one, it marked the birth of a legend,
whose rich barritone and natural body structure would even make the
hero look like, but an extra.
Whether it was playing the villian in Mr India, or matching wits with
Bacchan in Shehnshah, to playing the father in law who had to be won
over in Dilwale Dulhaniya, to the Zamindar in Nishant or the tough as
nails exterior and soft interor Angaarchand in Hulchul, he was truly
a scene stealer.
He was equally at ease in Attenborough’s Gandhi, Sharma’s Gadar,
Benegal’s Zubeeda, Dutta’s Yateem, Spielberg’s Indiana Jones or Rai’s
Tridev. A man who could hold his own when pitted with legends
(Saudagar), today’s star’s (Mujse Shaadi Karoge), his contemporaries
(China Gate) or with India’s Best (Dev).
Like a true artist, he was not judgemental as to what is good cinema,
his only verdict was a good performance, which he always delivered.
Like a true student of the art, when in NY, he would love to sneak in
a viewing of Broadway….there it was not about him, it was about the
fascination with the medium of creativity and in imbibing it to the
fullest.
Like a Balraj Sahni, he left when still in his prime- just a month
back he was part of two of the biggest hits of 2004 (Hulchul & MSK).
Like a Guru Dutt he was still in the midst of an almost finished
mission (KISNA)
But they say that just moments before your time comes….your life
flashes past you….and at that moment, we can hear him say…and so
will we….MOGAMBO KHUSH HUA.
You will be missed Sir!!!!A life of creativity well lived
Sincerely,
Vivek “today another star joins the galaxy” Kumar
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
true…Amrishji was amazing. he is my all time favourite villain as well as character artist.
below are my views on the legend…
http://passionforcinema.com/rememberingamrish-puri/
amrish puri is alegend in every sense….
it would be great to know in details about his career from the 40’s till the 70’s
Though Amrish Puri is mostly remembered for villanous roles simply because the films were very popular it is true that he has done some great character roles.The ones that immediately come to mind are Gardish,Ghatak,Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge,Phool Aur Kaante.He was like Ashok Kumar,the ever dependable actor.Put him in any kind of role and he would play it to the t.