If there was one actor who revolutionised the concept of a villain in Hindi cinema, it had to be Amrish Puri. From playing ruthless crime lords to eccentric generals who want to take over the world, his sheer voice and towering screen presence instilled fear in the hearts of moviegoers. Despite playing a villain in countless films, Amrish Puri made sure he was never typecast as he brought about completely different shades of negativity in each of his roles. He changed his look and attire for each role and mouthed unique catchphrases in his baritone voice, his dialogue from Mr India, ‘ Mogambo Khush Hua’ being the most famous.

But do you know that the very voice that became his unique selling point in films caused him rejection in the early days of his career? Amrish had quit his government job to become an actor. He came to Mumbai in 1950 to become an actor. His first screen test got him rejected because of his voice. Amrish Puri was working at State Insurance Corporation before entering the acting field. He worked as a clerk in the State Insurance Corporation for 21 years. But he was trying to fulfil his dream of becoming an actor. He started acting in Satyadev Dubey’s plays at Prithvi Theatre.

Once he learned the rules of acting by doing theatre, his older brother Madan Puri, who was also a very successful character actor in Bollywood, helped his younger brother gain a foothold in the industry. In 1970, at 40, Amrish Puri got his first film Prem Pujari. After that, the movie Hum Panch was released in 1980, in which he played the role of a villain for the first time. Making his debut at the age of 40, Amrish Puri acted in more than 450 films throughout his career, mostly playing the villain but occasionally playing positive roles like a strict father or a kind-hearted good Samaritan.

Being a disciplined man, Amrish Puri was very punctual about time. There was an instance when he was doing a film with Govinda and Govinda reached the set 9 hours late. Amrish Puri reportedly gave Govinda an earful and they never worked together again. Do you know that Amrish Puri is the only Indian actor to work in a Steven Speilberg film? Amrish Puri played the main antagonist Mola Ram in the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Steven Speilberg hailed the actor to have been the best villain ever. Amish Puri passed away on January 12, 2005, after a long battle with blood cancer.