NRIs
remember Amrish Puri of his
legacy of 200 films
Bombay, Jan 25, 2004
By Subhash K. Jha, IANS
Amrish Puri died last fortnight, leaving a legacy of
200 films in a 30-year career, during which he worked
with avant-garde directors like Shyam Benegal and Govind
Nihalani and also did outright kitsch.
In his early years, most of the work he did was either
quality-oriented work or mainstream commercial films
where he used his powerful voice and screen presence
to accentuate the cinematic definitions of evil. Puri's
truly fecund 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 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 Amrish
who dominated the show in every way possible. The role
had apparently been written for Bengali actor Utpal
Dutt who excelled at playing obdurate disciplinarians.
Amrish, 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. Amrish admitted this film was a turning
point in his career.
"Muskurahat" (1992): In the year that
"Phool Aur Kante" brought grey glory into
Amrish's black persona, he also went out-and-out benign
in this wonderfully heart warming story of a sullen
old man and a young woman who brings a smile on his
frowning face. In the two pivotal roles, Amrish and
Revathi were outstandingly synchronised. Director Priyadarshan
went on to cast Amrish in most of his Hindi films, including
2004's "Hulchul" where the actor played an
obdurate village leader who'll go 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 could play the benign
zamindar, modelled on Marlon Brando in "The Godfather"?
In the Tamil original it was the theatrical thespian
Shivaji Ganesan who played the main role. Amrish modelled
his performance on none. He was one of his 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), Amrish scared
and amused the kids. His antagonism was unique. The
role was originally offered to Anupam Kher and apparently
taken away when he couldn't quite deliver what director
Shekhar Kapur had in mind.
"Dilwale Dulhaniya Le
Jayenge" (1995): Amrish'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, Amrish 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, Amrish's character
propelled 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, Amrish was
a part of every film by Subhash Ghai, from "Ram
Lakhan" and "Saudagar" to "Pardes"
and "Yaadein" and the just released "Kisna".
"Pardes" remains special for how different
Amrish made this NRI seem from the one in "Dilwale
Dulhaniya..."
"Ghaatak" (1996): Arguably Amrish'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 his son
(Sunny Deol) only to encounter the worst possible corruption
in the city. The theme of disillusionment with corruption
was reified in Amrish'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), Amrish was
larger than 'laugh'. More than any of the other versatile
and virile characters that he played, the role of the
uni-dimensional corrupt politician showed how ably Amrish
could transform a stereotypical role into a pageant
of parody. Coolly caricatural and yet purely individualistic...
that was Amrish Puri.
"Sharaarat" (2002): As Prajapati,
a cantankerous partly delusional old man thrown into
an old folks' home, Amrish was one of a gallery of veterans,
and yet a natural cheerleader. Amrish's scenes of verbal
sparring with the bratty Abhishek Bachchan gave to the
drama a rippling resonance.
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