In his 30-year career as an actor Amrish Puri did over 200 films. In his early years, most of the work he did was either quality-oriented work for the avant-garde directors Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani or outright kitsch, where he used his powerful voice and screen presence to accentuate the cinematic definitions of evil. Puri’s truly fertile phase as Bollywood’s most dependable character-actor, or actor of character, began in 1992. Here’s a checklist of his best films.
Nishant (1975):Playing the eldest brother in a family of zaalim(cruel) zamindars who abduct and rape a schoolteacher’s wife, Amrish Puri struck a note of immediate and everlasting terror in viewers’ hearts. Though the film had other terrific actors it was Puri who dominated the show in every way possible. The role had apparently been written for the Bengali actor Utpal Dutt, who excelled at playing obdurate disciplinarians. Puri, too, went on to make a great impression on mainstream Hindi cinema as the unrelenting patriarch.
Phool Aur Kaante (1992): Though this was the launch pad for Ajay Devgan it was Amrish Puri who stole much of the debutant’s thunder as the good-natured don who wants to win his estranged son’s respect back. Puri admitted this film was a turning point in his career.
Muskurahat (1992): During the same year that Phool Aur Kante brought grey glory into Puri’s black persona, he went out-and-out benign in this wonderfully heartwarming story of a sullen old man and a young woman who bring a smile on his frowning face. In the two pivotal roles, Puri and Revathi were outstandingly synchronized. Director Priyadarshan went on to cast Puri in most Hindi films, including 2004’s Hulchul, where the actor played an obdurate village leader who goes to any lengths to settle scores with his enemies.
Viraasat (1997): When Priyadarshan was roped in to remake the Tamil blockbuster Thevar Magan who but Amrish Puri to play the benign zamindar, modeled on Marlon Brando in The Godfather? In the Tamil original it was the theatrical thespian Shivaji Ganesan who played the main role. Puri modeled his performance on none. He was one of a kind.
Mr India (1987):Screen villainy got a new face, and so did Amrish Puri’s career. Playing the comic-book bad-guy Mogambo, Puri gave a new caricatural twist to celluloid villainy. Partly comic-bookish, partly like the typical arch-villain from James Bond films (he wore a Hitlerian costume throughout), Puri scared and amused the kids. His antagonism was unique. The role was originally offered to Anupam Kher and apparently taken away when Kher couldn’t quite deliver what director Shekhar Kapur had in mind.
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995): Puri’s best phase as an actor came not as a villain but as a stern disciplinarian with principles that the new generation finds impossible to uphold. More than Shah Rukh Khan, Puri was the pivotal character of Yash Chopra’s all-time blockbuster. As the London-based Chowdhary Baldev Singh, who pines to return to his village in Punjab, Puri’s character propels the plot through its tumultuous romantic karma. He was undoubtedly exceptional.
Pardes (1997): Amrish Puri’s second famous NRI’s part spotlighted by his patriotic song Yeh mera India. Interestingly, Puri was a part of every film by Subhash Ghai, from Ram Lakhan and Saudagar to Pardes and Yaadein to the about-to-be-released Kisna. Pardes remains special for how different Puri made this NRI seem from the one in Dilwale Dulhaniya…
Ghaatak (1996): Arguably Puri’s single most accomplished performance in a commercial film, Ghaatak featured him as the eccentric idealist (a role that Puri patented) from Uttar Pradesh who comes to Mumbai for medical treatment with son (Sunny Deol) only to encounter the worst possible corruption in the city. The theme of disillusionment with corruption was reified in Puri’s wizened face. Every wrinkle in his face told its own story.
Nayak (2001):As the wily wicked and grotesque chief minister who gets his comeuppance from a common man (played by Anil Kapoor) Puri was larger than ‘laugh’. More than any of the other versatile and virile characters that he played, the role of the unidimensionally corrupt politician showed how ably Puri could transform a stereotypical role into a pageant of parody. Coolly caricatural and yet purely individualistic… that was Amrish Puri.
Ardh Satya (1983): As Om Puri’s brutal abusive father, Amrish Puri embodied the Monster Father who strikes terror in all progenies who do not match up to paternal expectations. Although the film ‘belonged’ to Om, Amrish was no less powerful in Govind Nihalani’s masterpiece. Incidentally, contrary to popular belief, Amrish was not related to Om.
