Daily Times

Google Doodle on Saturday celebrated the 87th birth anniversary of late actor Amrish Puri – the most memorable villain in the history of Indian cinema.

“If at first you do not succeed, try again and you might end up like Amrish Puri, who overcame an early setback on the way to fulfilling his big screen dreams. Today’s Doodle by Pune-based guest artist Debangshu Moulik celebrates the life and legacy of the renowned actor, born in Punjab on this day in 1932,” said Google in a post.

Amrish was born in Punjab’s Nawanshahr on June 22, 2019. He landed his first role at the age 39 and went on to portray some of the iconic roles in Bollywood.

“The younger brother of character actors Madan Puri and Chaman Puri, Amrish auditioned for a lead role in 1954 but was rejected. After working in the theatre and doing voiceover parts, he made his Bollywood debut in 1971’s Reshma Aur Shera. A decade later, he broke into Hollywood as Khan, a supporting role in the Oscar-winning film ‘Gandhi’,” writes Google.

Amrish acted in over 400 films between 1967 and 2005, and remains one of the most successful villains in Bollywood until date. He also acted in Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Hollywood, Punjabi, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil films.

‘The younger brother of character actors Madan Puri and Chaman Puri, Amrish auditioned for a lead role in 1954 but was rejected. After working in the theatre and doing voiceover parts, he made his Bollywood debut in 1971’s Reshma Aur Shera. A decade later, he broke into Hollywood as Khan, a supporting role in the Oscar-winning film Gandhi’

Some of his most memorable roles are Mogambo in ‘Mr India’, Chaudhry Baldev Singh – Simran’s father – in ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’, Thakur Durjan Singh in ‘Karan Arjun’, Mayor Ashraf Ali in ‘Gadar – Ek Prem Katha’, Chief Minister Balraj Chauhan in ‘Nayak – The Real Hero’, Bhisambar Nath in ‘Ram Lakhan’ and many more. He was also cast as Mola Ram in ‘Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom’.

“He was later cast as Mola Ram in ‘Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom’, after initially turning down director Steven Spielberg’s offer.

“Amrish is my favourite villain,” filmmaker Steven Spielberg said, who persisted until Amrish said ‘yes’. “The best the world has ever produced and ever will!”

“Appearing in more than 200 films in over half a dozen languages-including Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Punjabi, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and English-Amrish gave one of his most memorable performances at age 55. Playing Mogambo in the 1987 cult classic ‘Mr India’, Amrish’s deep-voiced delivery of the dastardly line, “Mogambo khush hua” (“Mogambo is pleased”) would become his signature,” said Google.