Biography of Amrish Puri

(January 22, 1937 - 12 January 2005)

The name 'Amrish Puri' immediately conjures an image of someone with a towering personality and a voice to match it. A person of immense talent, Amrish Puri tried his hands at the hero's role in 1954 but was rejected due to his not so 'picture perfect' features. After doing a government job for nearly 20 years, Amrish Puri got a break in Sunil Dutt's film "Reshma aur Shera' in a negative role. Amrish Puri also dabbled in art cinema under the watchful eyes of Shyam Benegal in movies like Nishaant', Manthan, and "Bhumika'. The screen villain, Amrish Puri started to get noticed in films like Vidhaata' and 'Hero'.

In Mr. India', the character of Mogambo' was straight out of comic books and Puri gave creditability to this psychotic-fascist villain. But the defining moment of Puri was in Yash Chopra directed blockbuster ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’. Be it an uneducated paan-chewing Bihari father in Ghatak or an adoring Granduncle in Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hain, Amrish Puri's skill of acting has polished again and again.