Remembering 'Mogambo' on his birth anniversary

Google Doodle is paying tribute to one of the most versatile actors of Bollywood, Amrish Puri, on his 87th birth anniversary. Today's doodle features a sketch of the actor on an orange background designed by Pune-based artist Debangshu Moulik.

Amrishlal Puri aka Amrish Puri is one actor whom one can never forget thanks to his outrageous laughter and acts which enhanced his characters and made them vibrant.

On his birth anniversary, DH retraces the life of one of the most celebrated villains of the Bollywood industry.

Puri was born in Punjab on June 22, 1932. Almost unknown to many, Puri, in the initial days of his career, used to be an insurance agent. He worked in theatre and did voiceover parts before making his Bollywood debut in 1971 with 'Reshma Aur Shera'.

He is quite popular for roles like Mogambo in 'Mr India'. Stepping out of Indian cinema, he claimed a position in Western films as well by playing the role of Mola Ram in Steven Spielberg's Hollywood film 'Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom'.

Between 1967 and 2005, Amrish worked in around 400 films in Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil.

However, it was his interest in theatre that led him to meet Shyam Benegal, who was at the time, working on his first film, Ankur (1974).

Eventually, this strong friendship between the duo earned Amrish Puri wide appreciation in 'Nishant' and 'Bhumika'.

In an interview, recalling Amrish Puri, Shyam Benegal said, “The great thing about Amrish, like Om Puri, was that when he worked on a film, he brought a lot of order into the unit. He had extremely disciplined ways. I remember, when we were doing 'Manthan', we were shooting in a village called Sanganva, which was about 45 kilometres from Rajkot. He would wake the unit up at 5.30 in the morning in the winter of January and take them all on a run. This was to keep everyone in good shape. He always had a wonderful presence in the unit because he maintained discipline, which flowed to other people. This also included his food habits.”

Amrish Puri passed away on January 12, 2005 due to cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 72.