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Amrish Puri : Birth - 22nd June 1932, Death – 12 January 2005

What was contribution of Amrish Puri in Hindi films, can be understood by the fact that if someone who has been watching hindi films regularly and if he closes his eyes then he will be able to recall atleast 20-25 films where he liked Amrish Puri very much. This is a fantastic achievement which very few actors can get. Remembering him and his films are chain reactions. Recall his Hum Panch and it will lead to Ashanti or Saja-e-Kala Pani or snake charmer of Nagina. Recall his very first big role in Nishant and it will lead us to his association with Shyam Benegal in the films like Manthan, Bhumika, Kalyug, Mandi etc. Mandi was released in 1983 and when after a gap of 10 years Shayam Benegal and Amrish Puri joined hands again to adapt amazing book written by late Dharmveer Bharti the famous author and editor of Dharmyug, then we got a fantastic film “Suraj ka satvan ghora”.
If we go to recall his first association with Govind Nihalani in Akrosh then it goes ahead with the list of many good films like Vijeta, Ardha Satya, Party, Aghaat.
Then Amrish Puri has a list of films with Boney Kapoor. Boney’s Hum Panch made Amrish a known name in commercial films also. Its difficult to say that whether Duryodhan really said Draupadi to come and sit on his thigh with such intensity as Amrish Puri says to Shabana Azami in this film. Amrish Puri’s role of Mogambo in the Boney Kapoor’s next film Mr India made his name as famous as of Amjad Khan in the role of Gabbar Singh in Sholay.
If we go to recall his association with Subhash Ghai since the time of Vidhata then we will reach to the list of many successful films where Amrish Puri played memorable roles. Hero, Meri Jung, Ram Lakhan, Saudagar, Pardes, Taal, Yadein suggest that in these films he was not less than any other lead actor present.
If we recall his weird scenes where he goes for snake bite on his tongue in Ashanti then we are reminded of his Molaram the tantrik in film of Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
If we go to recall his most memorable performances then also we will be able to reach in to the double digit within 2-3 minutes time.
He was as good in villaneous roles as he was in positive character role or in a comic role. He had a wide vivid range and its difficult to guess which kind of roles were there which he could not do with flair. Cant recall any film and any of his role where it was felt that Amrish Puri could not play this character. There can be repetition of characters in many films but nowhere his performance was weak. If he played master of intrigues Junia Chauan in Saudagar then his mannerisms were able to gather hate towards his character.
He knew how to deliver his dialogues. when he introduces himself to Pallavi Joshi he says while wrapping his strand of hairs on his finger,” Mama, Kunal ka Mama. Aja Bachhrhi andar aja ( I am maternal uncle of Kunal, come inside the cow”.
He had this capability that whenever he wished he shouted and his voice remain fine but whenever he wished he ruptured his high tone voice. This quality of voice control was missing in case of so fine actors, Sanjeev Kumar and Dharmendra, and both ruptured their voices whenever shouted in high tone. Amrish Puri matched Amitabh Bachchan in this command over voice.
It was a treat to watch him shouting him many films. Perhaps he remained one of the best shouter in hindi films as his shouts made impact.
There is a scene in Akbar Khan’s Hadsa. Amrish Puri takes his young wife Smita Patil to Ashok Kumar who plays a doctor in the film. After knowing psychological disturbances of Smita Patil, Ashok Kumar asks Amrish Puri, “Why don’t you give all pleasures to your wife which a husband should give”
Amrish Puri shouts to his maximum capacity,” Doctor mein namard hun ( Doctor I suffer from Erectile dysfuncion).
This is Amrish Puri’s scene. Very few can enact this scene with such authority as he did.

He matched old villain Kanhiyalal when he represented a lusty and greedy man in Suaj ka satvan ghora, when he goes to see the daughter of Ila Arun for his son and likes Ila Arun and once bond is finalized he grasps the hands of Ila Arun and proposes her.

He had equal command over his facial expressions also. Anger befits his face in such a way as if he born with angry wrinkles on his face. And then he was master to display helplessness through his eyes and facial expressions. If he cried he brought tears in the eyes of audience.

Laughing decorated his lips and when a naughty feeling was also included in it then it was double bonus. In Karan Arjun’s song, Rana ji mujhko maaf karma, though its woman who is dancing but scene stealer is Amrish Puri who with his mannerisms increase the impact of the song. Same happens with Chamma Chamma in China Gate.

Other than his villaneous roles he made immortal his portrayal of father. In the role of father, strict, cruel or humble he always made a difference. Be it Nishant, Ardha Satya, Gardish, Phhul aur Kante, Ghatak, Muskurahat, Pardes, Taal and DDLJ. He was there to make role of father memorable because of his powerful performance.
With due respect to Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Salim Javed and Ramesh Sippy missed the point when they signed him in Shaan in the role of Shakaal. Something was missing in this role and performance. Javed Akhtar improvised this character and presented it in new flavour in Mr India and here Amrish Puri did wonder under the direction of Shekhar Kapur what Kulbhushan Kharbanda could not do in Shaan under the direction of Ramesh Sippy. Amrish Puri had the capability to raise the standard of the role given to him by his performance.
Not only he had a healthy physique and baritone voice but he had complete mastery over the craft of acting and when it was required he took resort of subtle acting also.
He was very good actor in his silence also. In Ajay Devgan’s debut film, Phhul aur Kante, Amrish Puri is a man of few words in most of the film and he represents his power of his powerful character through his body language and mannerisms only. His ice cold voice sends chilling impact and when he cries in the last minutes of the film for his grand son then he is equally vulnerable.
He appeals in the role of ideal stern faced man who likes to follow principles in life in Ghatak and he appeals more when his character falls ill in the film.
This variety and range in the acting capability of Amrish Puri makes him a wonderful actor.

He worked with actors like Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Raaj Kumar who have been known for their effective dialogue deliveries and he created a separate place for him in every film he did with them.

He had a knack for saying punch lines or slogans. Whenever he says in Subhash Ghai’s Hero,” Suni Tune Pasha ki Bhasha (you listened Pasha’s language now)” then he electrifies the screen.

His face gave synchronized expressions. In the plane scene in Vidhata when he goes to meet Dilip Kumar and plane passes through pressure zone and Dilip Kumar says,”Zorawar Singh, bahut jhatke lag rahe hain, jao apnee seat par baith jao(Zorawar Singh you are having too many jerks, go to your seat), Amrish Puri’s face shows stunned expressions.

Right expression at right time made him an actor of par excellence.

He became part of part of Richard Attenborough’s giant film Gandhi also.

* * * *
Amrish Puri’s elder brother Madan Puri had become a known actor in 1950s itself and when young Amrish Puri finished his education, he also reached to Bombay to become Hero in hindi films. To puncture his dreams and ambitions he could not pass a screen test. Later he was offered less significant roles but he got a govt. job to survive in Bombay and he joined theatre to pursue his acting ambitions. In theatre he worked with star directors of theatre world like Satyadev Dubey, Ebrahim Alkazi, Vijay Tendulkar, Girish Kamad etc and worked on some plays written by famous hindi author Mohan Rakesh like Ashadh ka ek din.
Hardships of doing a low paid govt. job, took him again to film world and starting from small role in Dev Anand’s Prem Pujari and Sunil Dutt’s Reshma Aur Shera. He got recognition from Shyam Benegal’s Nishant in 1975, and he got recognition in commercial films with Hum Panch and after that he had no looking back. He started his acting career when he was more than 40 years old but he did amazing work in his 30 years in the films.
Its pity that we have slots like heros, villains, comedians, character artists etc rather than to address them in single category of actors. If we also fall for this indexing then he was Amitabh Bachchan in character artists.
No doubt they both shared same room while shooting for Reshma aur Shera, both touched heights in their respective career in films.
Amrish Puri will always be missed as an actor. He was a force and he contributed in the films with his presence. While Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah remained in confusion whether to work in commercial films or not and Pankaj Kapur could not do many films, and there can be debate that their performances in commercial cinema are not up to that standard which they touched in parallel cinema, Amrish Puri gave fantastic performances in both kinds of cinema and became successful.
Amrish Puri was strong and capable actor who maintained tremendous continuity and standard in his performances.

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