Amrish Puri

Puri acted in more than 450 films between 1967 and 2005, and was one of the most successful villains in Bollywood. Most of them were hits. Puri first came to Bombay in the early 1950s following the footsteps of his elder brothers - Madan Puri and Chaman Puri, who were already established actors known for playing villainous roles. He failed his first screen test, and instead found a job with the Employees' State Insurance Corporation Ministry of Labour and Employment (ESIC). At the same time, he started performing at the Prithvi Theatre in plays written by Satyadev Dubey. He eventually became well known as a stage actor and won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1979. This theatre recognition soon led to work in television ads and eventually to films at the relatively late age of 40.

Through the 1970s, Puri often worked in supporting roles, usually as the henchman of the main villain. He was noticed in the 1980 super-hit movie Hum Paanch in which he played the main villain. After that, he started getting cast as the main villain in other movies. In 1982, Puri played the main villain, Jagavar Choudhary in the Subhash Ghai super-hit film Vidhaata. That year, he again played the main villain, JK in the movie Shakti co-starring Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan. Next, in 1983, Ghai again cast him as the main villain, Pasha in the hit movie Hero. Puri regularly featured in subsequent Ghai films.

Puri was suffering from myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare kind of blood cancer, and had undergone brain surgery for his condition after he was admitted to the Hinduja hospital on 27 December 2004. His condition required frequent removal of the blood accumulated in the cerebral region of the brain and after some time he slipped into a coma shortly before his death around 7:30 a.m on 12 January 2005.

From the 1990s until his death in 2005, Puri also featured in positive supporting roles in many movies. Some of his notable positive roles are Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Phool Aur Kaante, Gardish, Pardes, Virasat, Ghatak, Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai, China Gate and Mohabbatein. He received the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor award for Meri Jung and Virasat.

His body was brought to his residence for people to pay their last respects, and his funeral was on 13 January 2005 at Shivaji Park crematorium.

On 22 June 2019, Puri was honoured with a Google Doodle. Commemorating his 87th birthday, Google carried his picture and the accompanying text read as, "If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again—and you might end up like Indian film actor Amrish Puri, who overcame an early setback on the way to fulfilling his big screen dreams."

Happy Birthday Amrish Puri: Fans remember the versatile actor & shower wishes on his 88th birth anniversary

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अमरीश पुरी को ट्विटर फैन्स की तरफ से जन्मदिन की बधाई

Amrish Puris 81st birthday was celebrated by his family on 22nd June. Amrish Puris fans sent him lots of wishes and love. Anrish Puri got famous wih his role of Mogambo in Mister India. अमरीश पुरी को ट्विटर फैन्स की तरफ से जन्मदिन की बधाई|

No 'Mr India 2' without Amrish Puri | BizAsia | Media, Entertainment, Showbiz, Brit, Events and Music

What would have been his 80th birthday celebration, was a commemoration of how great of an actor Amrish Puri was. With fans and co-stars sending messages

Remembering Mogambo: Amrish Puri's 79th Birth Anniversary - Movie Talkies

Best known for playing the only character who was a worthy competitor to Gabbar as the most iconic Hindi film villain of all times, Amrish Puri‘s deep, baritone voice still resonates in many a film-lover’s memory. A through gentleman, in stark contrast to his on-screen image, Mr. Puri acted in over 240 films in his … Continue reading Remembering Mogambo: Amrish Puri’s 79th Birth Anniversary →