26 Facts About Amrish Puri

Amrish Puri was an Indian actor, who was one of the most notable and important figures in Indian cinema and Theatre.

Amrish Puri acted in more than 450 films, established himself as one of the most popular actors in Indian Cinema.

Amrish Puri reigned supreme in villainous roles in the 1980s and 1990s, his dominating screen presence and distinctive deep voice made him stand out amongst the other villains of the day.

Amrish Puri was active in both, art cinema such as in some of Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani's films and mainly in mainstream cinema.

Amrish Puri won three Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actor in eight nominations.

Amrish Puri holds most Filmfare Award for Best Villain nominations.

Amrish Puri played some of most remembered villainous roles in Vidhaata, Shakti, Hero, Meri Jung, Nagina, Mr India, Shahenshah, Ram Lakhan, Tridev, Ghayal, Saudagar, Thalapathi, Tahalka, Damini, Karan Arjun, Kaalapani, Jeet, Koyla, Baadshah, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, and Nayak: The Real Hero.

Amrish Puri was a highly prolific actor; he featured in positive supporting roles, of which he won 3 times Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actor.

Amrish Puri's grandson, Vardhan Puri is an actor in Indian Cinema, having written and starred in a film produced by a production house named after Puri, Amrish Puri Films.

Amrish Lal Puri was born in a Punjabi Hindu family in Nawanshahr, Punjab, to Lala Nihal Chand and Ved Kaur.

Amrish Puri had four siblings, elder brothers Chaman Puri and Madan Puri, elder sister Chandrakanta, and a younger brother, Harish Puri.

Amrish Puri acted in more than 450 films between 1967 and 2005, most of which were commercially successful, and was one of the most successful villains in Bollywood.

Amrish Puri likewise came to Mumbai in the mid-1950s to try his luck, but failed his first screen test.

Amrish Puri however managed to land a stable job with the Employees State Insurance Corporation, a government organization, and indulged his hobby of acting by becoming part of an amateur natak mandali or stage group.

Amrish Puri eventually became well known as a stage actor and even won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1979.

Amrish Puri's acting performance, personality and voice were all noticed and duly appreciated in this film.

Amrish Puri went on to work in Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and even Hollywood films.

In 1982, Amrish Puri played the main villain, Jagavar Choudhary in the Subhash Ghai super-hit film Vidhaata.

Amrish Puri is known to international audiences for his roles as the main antagonist Mola Ram in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and as Gandhi's Muslim employer and patron in South Africa in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi.

Amrish Puri's baldness gave him the flexibility to experiment with different looks as a villain in subsequent movies, and few are aware that in every film thereafter, Puri was wearing a wig.

Amrish Puri reigned supreme in villainous roles in the 1980s and 1990s.

Amrish Puri's dominating screen presence and baritone voice made him stand out amongst the other villains of the day.

Amrish Puri received the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor award for Meri Jung and Virasat.

Amrish 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.

Amrish Puri's 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, Amrish Puri was honoured with a Google Doodle.