Amrish Puri

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Amrish Puri failed in first film screen test and took up govt job Amrish Puri had acting in his blood. Eminent film legend K L Saigal was his close relative and his elder brother Madan Puri and Chaman Puri were famous villains in Bollywood. Amrish Puri himself was interested in acting and was quite active in theater during his college days. Hence after completing his graduation from B.M. College, Himachal Pradesh, Amrish Puri moved to Mumbai to join films hoping it will be cake walk for him but things were different! Reader would be surprised to that Amrish Puri failed his first screen test and dejected he took up a government job at Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). In the day he worked as Insurance agent and at night he worked at theater.

Amrish Puri was born on 22 June 1932 in Nawanshahr, Jalandhar, Punjab. He was born in a Khatri family of Nihal Singh Puri and Ved Kaur. He had four siblings, elder brothers Madan Puri and Chaman Puri (both of them were also actors), elder sister Chandrakanta, and a younger brother, Harish Puri. K L Saigal the actor and singer was is first cousin.

Theatre opened doors for Bollywood for Amrish Puri His acting stint at theater helped him fetch roles in films. Recalling his theatre experience he once said, “I am obliged to Ebrahim Alkazi (India’s most revered theatre director) who introduced me to theatre in 1961. It was here I had the opportunity work as assistant director to another legend of theater world Satyadev Dubey. Soon at Mumbai’s Prithvi Theatre I became famous as a good actor and top filmmakers who thronged Prithvi Theatre started giving me small roles. I remember Dev Sahab ( Dev Anand ) first offered a small role of Jerry, a henchman in church in his film Prem Pujari (1970). Later Sunil Dutt offered me Reshma Aur Shera ; Chetan Aanad gave me Hindustan Ki Kasam etc.” Shyam Benegal brought Amrish Puri into limelight While the commercial cinema misused Amrish Puri’s talent by giving him insignificant roles, it was Art Cinema’s film wizard Shyam Benegal who exploited Amrish Puri talent to the core and brought him into limelight. In his film Nishant (1975) Benegal gave Amrish Puri a tailor made role of a village zamindaar that suited Puri’s macho personality to the perfect ‘T’. The role won rave reviews and was noticed by Boney Kapoor, who was making Hum Paanch (1980) a modern version of Mahabharata. In the film Amrish Puri played a similar role of a village Zamindaar, who exploits the villagers. The film was directed by Bapu and was instant hit. Yet again Amrish Puri’s dynamic image of a ruthless Zamindaar was applauded. The film was a box office hit! And Amrish Puri became a popular name in Bollywood. But success still evaded him. Subhash Ghai gave impetus to Amrish Puri’s talent After Hum Paanch, Amrish Puri was noticed by big film producers like Manmohan Desai (Coolie and Naseeb), Feroz Khan (Qurbani), Yash Johar ( Dostana ) etc. But yet again, though all movies were hit, but Amrish Puri’s role was not strong. Hence despite talent he could not hit the bull’s eye. Eventually Subhash Ghai dared to take the risk and gave Amrish Puri, a power packed role in Vidhaata. In this film he made Amrish Puri the main villain opposite thespian Dilip Kumar. The film was a huge hit! Ghai in his next film Hero, yet again gave Amrish Puri the lead villain. His famous one liner Pasha Ki Bhasha became a craze. Amrish Puri becomes a star villain After a series of hit films opposite thespian Dilip Kumar like Shakti, Saudagar, Mashaal etc and opposite superstar Amitabh Bachchan in movies like Shahenshah, Jaadugar, Aaj Ka Arjun, Ajooba, Lal Baadshah etc Amrish Puri was declared Bollywood’s No 1 and highest paid villain. Hollywood director Steven Spielberg signed Amrish Puri Not just Bollywood, Amrish Puri’s popularity reached Hollywood in the mid 80’s. Impressed by Amrish Puri’s marvelous performance, Hollywood filmmaker invited Amrish Puri to Hollywood and give screen test for his film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. But Amrish Puri refused. In his reply he asked Steven Spielberg to come down to India, if he was interested. Believe it or not, Spielberg, instead of being angry, came down to Mumbai and signed Puri! Film maker Priyadarshan exploited the best of Amrish Puri While the commercial film industry only focused on the villainy aspect of Amrish Puri, South filmmaker Priyadarshani exploited the many moods of Amrish Puri. Speaking about Priyadarshan, Amrish Puri said, “I admire Priyan (Priyadarshan) he has been one director who gave me challenging roles like Gardish, in which he exploited my emotion and in Muskurahat, he explored my comedy, which nobody imagined I could do!” The other best role that Priyadarshan gave Amrish Puri was in Virasat. Amrish Puri recalled, “Actually the role was originally offered to Dilip Shab (Dilip Kumar) as the film was a remake of Thevar Magan and the role was played South legend Sivaji Ganeshan. But Dilip Sahab was busy shooting with other film hence the role was offered to superstar Rajesh Khanna but he turned it down, finally I was approached. I immediately grabbed the role as it was a pivotal role and fetched me much applause and awards.