Amrish Puri Indian cult theater and film actor Date of Birth: 22.06.1932 Country: India

Biography of Amrish Puri

Amrish Puri, an Indian cult theater and film actor, was a key figure in the Indian theater movement of the 1960s. He worked with renowned playwrights of the time such as Satyadev Dubey and Girish Karnad. However, Amrish is best remembered as the performer of several negative characters in Hindi cinema. His most iconic role was the super-villain Mogambo in the fantasy Hindi action film "Mr. India," as well as Mola Ram in the Hollywood film "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."

Amrish Lal Puri was born on June 22, 1932, in Punjab, British India. He completed his college education in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. When Amrish arrived in Mumbai, his brother Madan Puri was already established as a performer of negative roles in films. After failing in his initial film auditions, Amrish started performing in Prithvi Theatre, in plays written by Dubey. Eventually, Puri gained recognition as a theater actor and won the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1979. This recognition led him to television commercials and films.

He was involved in Bollywood and Tamil films, as well as in the languages of Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, Malayalam, and Telugu. Amrish Puri is particularly well-known as a Bollywood actor. He made his film debut in 1970 in the melodrama "War and Love," although he initially signed a contract for the film "Reshma Aur Sheraaa," released in 1971. This was followed by a series of villain or supporting roles in non-commercial films such as "Awakening," "A Difficult Role," and "Different Fates." In 1984, he portrayed a doctor in Govind Nihalani's drama "Party."

Amrish gained significant attention for his work in Shekhar Kapur's 1987 film "Mr. India." The phrase "Mogambo khush hua" ("Mogambo is pleased") from his evil character became very popular and is still one of the most famous dialogues. Becoming one of the leading actors in Hindi films in the 1980s, Puri often played negative characters. Among his notable supporting roles is the portrayal of the conservative father Baldev Singh in the Bollywood blockbuster "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge," where he ultimately allows his daughter to marry for love instead of the son of an old friend.

His most famous role in Punjabi cinema is as the villain Joginder Singh in the legendary drama "Chann Pardesi" in 1980. In the religious film "Sat Sri Akal" in 1977, he appeared as Zalam Singh, and then returned to Punjabi cinema twenty years later, starring in the well-known film "Shaheed Uddham Singh" in 2000. Amrish also worked in Telugu films such as the actions "Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari" and "Aakhari Poratam," the fantasy comedy "Aditya 369," and the musical "Kondaveeti Donga," among others.

In 1991, Puri starred in the Tamil film "Dalapathi" directed by Mani Ratnam alongside Tamil superstar Rajinikanth. Following this, Amrish worked with Rajinikanth for the second and last time in the family film "Baba" in 2002, where he played an evil tantric assisting politicians and other villainous elements in their nefarious plans. For international audiences, Puri is known for his roles in Richard Attenborough's biopic "Gandhi" in 1982 and Steven Spielberg's adventure action film "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."

Spielberg once said in an interview, "Amrish is my favorite villain, there is none better in the world, and there never will be!" The actor married Urmila Divekar on January 5, 1957. The couple had two children, son Rajiv Puri and daughter Namrata Puri. Amrish collected hats and amassed over 200 specimens from around the world during his lifetime. Throughout his career, he appeared in over 400 films, managing to stand out among the multitude of actors, thanks in part to his booming voice.