There have been two cult villainous performances in Hindi Cinema where more than the good guys, it was the villain firmly etched on the cinegoers’ minds. One of course was the dreaded dacoit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan) in Sholay (1975). The other was Amrish Puri’s brilliant comic villain Mogambo in Shekhar Kapur’s Mr. India (1987). Think of Mr. India and you immediately think of the evil Mogambo, his weird blonde wig, his dreams of taking over the world and… his catchphrase Mogambo Khush Hua. Amrish Puri was truly among the greatest villains in the history of Hindi Cinema, second perhaps only to Pran.

The younger brother of another well-known villain, Madan Puri, Amrish Puri too tried his luck as a film actor albeit testing for a lead man in the 1950s. Rejection turned him towards the world of theatre where he honed his histrionic abilities and that booming well-modulated voice was used for advertisement voice-overs to keep the home fires burning. He was offered a role in Sunil Dutt’s Reshma Aur Shera (1971). However, much of his role ended up on the cutting floor.

It was Puri's association with Shyam Benegal that led to Puri being noticed as an actor of substance. He made an extremely strong impact in Nishant (1975) as an abusive zamindar and even more so in Bhumika (1977). The film is broadly based on the life of well-known Marathi Stage and screen actresses of the 1940s, Hansa Wadkar who led a flamboyant and unconventional life. Puri gave an amazing performance as her dominant lover who takes her as his second wife and stifles her.

Commercial cinema opened its doors to Puri with the success of the modern day Mahabharat Hum Paanch (1981). This small film proved to be the surprise hit of the year thereby launching the career of Producer Boney Kapoor as well. Puri played the evil Zamindar , an analogy of Duryodana. This lead to Puri scoring in a number of major films initially playing one of the villains before graduating to the main villain of the film. He continued nothing up hit after hit – Shakti (1982), Vidhaata (1982), Hero (1983), Meri Jung (1985) and Nagina (1986) among others. He was finally a star when well into his 50s, practically unheard of in Bollywood! What’s more he even got called by Hollywood, Steven Spielberg no less to play the villainous Mola Ram of the Thuggee cult in the second of the Indiana Jones films – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). Unfortunately that film was the weakest of the trilogy showcasing the worst brand of ‘Indian exotica’ and even Puri’s role was nothing but a caricature. But yet he made his mark in the film. In fact, what made Puri stand out from other villains was the credibility he brought to each of his roles. Using his experience from theatre, Puri was able to give flesh to even the most one-dimensional cardboard characters he often had to play. Of course the splendid use of that stern face, bulky build, incinerating impact of his bulbous, laser eyes helped!

Mr. India took Amrish Puri to the peak of his career. This Shekar Kapur directed film created one of Bollywood’s most exotic charatcters - the comic villain Mogambo. Puri made the character his own, virtually walking off with every scene in which he is present. Following the success of Mr. India, he was now as big a star as the leading men themselves. The hits continued to pile up – Ram Lakhan (1989), Tridev (1989) etc. It is to Puri’s credit that even as he found such huge success in mainstream cinema he continued to grace the theatre and act in the offbeat films of filmmakers like Benegal and Govind Nihalani. He was simply stunning as Om Puri’s stern father in the latter’s Ardh Satya (1983). This in fact led to the other variant of Puri’s roles. If his character were positive then he was the stern patriarch of the family. This was seen sporadically in films like Mohabbat (1985) and Naseeb Apna Apna (1986) but really took off after Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge (DDLJ, 1995). In DDLJ, Puri played a strict NRI father with a soft centre -- worrying his children are being led astray from traditional Indian values. His scenes with Shah Rukh Khan partucularly while feeding the pigeons are among the the highlights of the film. Puri said he based some of his character's inflections on his own strict and principled father Nihal Chand Puri.

Thereafter it seemed no role was beyond Puri. While continuing to play the Bollywood villain to perfection, he played Sunny Deol’s terminally ill father bringing a lump to your throat in Ghaatak (1996) or the comedic strict father in the Utpal Dutt mould in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Jhoot Bole Kawa Kaate (1999). Strangely while he won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for Ghaatak and Virasat, he never won for Best Villain which was started in 1991 in spite of being the top villain of Bollywood right to his death. Puri was then seen in Hulchul (2004) (the strict patriarch again!), Aitraaz (2004) and Subhash Ghai's Kisna (2005). Puri’s other memorable films include Saudagar (1991), Damini(1993), Gardish (1993), Pardes (1997), Taal (1999), Zubeidaa (2001) and Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001).

Amrish Puri passed away in Mumbai on January 12, 2005. He had been ailing for a while.