Amrish Puri birth anniversary: From debuting at 40 to acting in 'Indiana Jones', lesser-known facts about the late actor

Amrish Puri based the character of Kajol aka Simran’s Bauji’s character on his father, Nihalchand Puri. “It was something very close to his heart. It was a role which was written with my grandfather in mind,” Amrish Puri’s grandson, Vardhan Puri told Koimoi. He added, “My grandfather told Aditya Chopra that I would like to base this character on his father Nihalchand Puri and he showed his pictures and imitated his way of speaking. Aditya Chopra said this is bang on and let’s play on it.

Amrish Puri came to Bombay in the early 1950s following the footsteps of his elder brothers- actors Madan Puri and Chaman Puri. After failing his first screen test, the ‘Koyla’ actor got a job with the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).

While working for ESIC, Puri also ventured into theatre which later led him to work in TV and eventually films. He debuted in Bollywood at the age of 40 with the 1970 film ‘Prem Pujari’ where he played the character of a henchman.

Amrish Puri played the villain, Mola Ram in Steven Spielberg’s 1984 film Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom’ which also starred actor Harrison Ford and Kate Capshaw.

According to his autobiography, when American casting agents came to India to meet Puri, he refused to audition for the role of Mola Ram and instead asked them to watch him perform on the sets of his new film. Puri also refused to read out a page of text in English. “How does Spielberg know what language do I speak? He would know me as an actor,” he told the casting agents. The actor eventually agreed to the role and found the production very impressive. 

After the movie, Steven Spielberg wrote a letter to Amrish Puri. An excerpt from the letter read, “Mr Amrish Puri will always be the greatest villain in the world and nothing can change that." In fact, Spielberg also told Puri that he is only the person for whom he flew to another country for an audition.

Vardhan Puri described his late grandfather as a 'gentle giant', a family man, a disciplined and dedicated artist who was one with nature. Vardhan also revealed that he used to think that Puri was always ‘serious’ and ‘angry’ types but in real life, he was in fact the opposite. Amrish Puri’s friends revealed his ‘naughty, child-like side’ to his grandson.

While speaking to Pinkvilla, Vardhan said that Amrish Puri was completely obsessed with Tom & Jerry and would watch it for hours. 

(All photos: Instagram fan club account)