Villain with a stentorian voice
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Amrish Puri, who passed away recently, was primarily a theatre person. V. GANGADHAR writes...
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``EVERY HUMAN being has a few villainous traits in him, it is the natural human law," Amrish Puri, the most famous villain of the Hindi screen once told this writer. A villain had to be portrayed as such and not as an obnoxious, blood thirsty ogre, he felt. But this did not happen often on the Hindi screen, he regretted.
Amrish Pur (72) who played character roles in about 220 films died in Mumbai on Wednesday. He was the `baddie' in most of the films often playing flamboyant Dons, power hungry zamindars, corrupt cops and the scum of society. Often he was beaten up and killed by the hero.
Despite his preference for `natural' villainy, Puri's most memorable role on the Hindi screen was that of the mad, dictator, Mogambo in ``Mr India" where his immortal line, accompanied by maniacal laughter ``Mogambo khush hua" unnerved both friend and foe. Puri laughed. ``Mr India, was a fun film, a fantasy," he pointed out once. ``Look, the entire plot was about a serum which made people invisible. Everything about the film had to be exaggerated. So Mogambo looked like a space creature, had nuclear missiles aimed at the heart of India and stooped to any villainy to get the serum. The role was an after thought but once it was conceived the director lavished his care on it."
Puri was not bothered that his screen career began at the ripe age of 39. An officer with the Employees State Insurance Scheme (ESIS) and brother of character actor, Madan Puri, he failed in a screen test in the mid 1950s where the producer frankly told him that his `craggy, severe looks' would not suit a hero at all.
Undettered, Amrish Puri concentrated on theatre and lent his voice to commercials.
For years, he worked with one of the most creative stage directors in Mumbai, Satyadev Dubey, and played memorable roles in plays like ``Adhe Adhure," ``Yayati," ``Evam Indrajit."
Recalled Marathi stage director Jaidev Hattangadi who had worked with Amrish Puri, ``Which screen actor can boast of such a background of acting in classics like `No Exit,' `Steel Frame' and `Hivadan?' Amrish Puri was one of the most disciplined, dedicated and talented stage actors during the 1960s."
Dubey remembers his dedication and unwavering concentration. ``These were difficult roles, but Amrishji was ready for the challenge."
Stage personality, Dinesh Thakur spoke of Puri's `controlled, intense acting.' In a way, the actor's resonant voice which became a major asset in cinema, was a slight handicap. ``It was a voice for great characters," pointed out Thakur. ``For instance, we can't think of a beggar with that kind of voice."
The screen debut came with Sunil Dutt's ``Reshma aur Sehra" and Shyam Benegal who had known his stage reputation cast him in memorable films like ``Ankur," ``Manthan" and ``Bhoomika" which furthered the cause of parallel cinema in the country. Puri recalled those days fondly and how playing these natural roles helped him develop his art. Another creative director, Govind Nihlani, cast him in his films. Puri had arrived.
But ``Mr India" made him a star and he was as much in demand as the heroes. ``The roles were easy," he once told this writer. ``Roll your eyes, put your rumbling voice to good use and order your `chamchas' to do the dirty work."
Occasionally, Puri was frustrated at the lack of development of his art. This, he felt was mainly due to the paucity of creative directors.
His immense talents were seldom put to use by directors who beseeched to enact the role anyway he wanted.
While playing the stereotyped villain in most films, Puri had some good character roles in films in ``Phool aur Kante," ``Chachi 420" (where he played a comic role) and the stern father in ``Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge" and the clan leader in the recent, surprise hit ``Hulchul."
Did he feel that the father in ``Dilwale" was a good role model because he dictated to his daughter who she should marry and whether he favoured tradition to modernity? Pausing a bit, Puri had replied, ``We have to change with times. In the film, I was originally opposed to the hero who had lied to me but when I became convinced of his and my daughter's sincerity, I allowed them to marry."
Amrish Puri belonged to the long line of `distinguished villains' who held sway for decades — Jeevan, Pran, Prem Chopra.
Unlike some of them, he was not featured in rape scenes. ``I abhorred them," he told me. ``Most of the rape scenes had nothing to do with the main plot." But he admired Pran's versatility.
There had been no rat race among the screen villains to grab roles. ``That was why we could star in so many films. A hero's life span in Bollywood was restricted. Obviously, Amrish Puri was not much impressed with his Hollywood roles in ``Gandhi," Spielberg's ``Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom" and ``Raiders of the Lost Ark." ``I did not run after these roles," he had clarified. ``They came to me and in the Spielberg films, which were again fantasies, I had the same kind of roles which I had in Hindi films."
A quiet, family loving person, Puri continued to associate with his old stage friends.
He did not return to the stage because of lack of time but supported theatre activities in Mumbai. ``If I went back to the stage, people will come to watch film actor Amrish Puri and I did not want that," he told his friends.
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