Late Bollywood star Amrish Puri, who entertained us with blockbuster films, ruled the silver screen with his captivating performances. We hardly saw any ‘villain’ like him in the history of Indian cinema. His dialogues like’ Mogambo khush hua’ are still part of pop culture.
But do you know, he left his government job to become an actor? Yes, he left his job to become an actor. He came to Mumbai in the 1950s to become a Bollywood actor, but he failed and got rejected in his first screen test.
However, he got a job in the Employees State Insurance Corporation later where he worked for around 21 years as a clerk. But nothing stopped him from following his dreams. Following his passion, he started acting in Prithvi Theatre in the plays written by Satyadev Dubey. During this time, he went door-to-door to sell life insurance.
A few years later, he started getting recognition. And it was the year 1970 when he got his first Bollywood project at the age of 40. He played the character of a henchman in the film Prem Purjari. In 1980, he became the main villain for the first time in the film Hum Paanch.
When he slapped Govinda
Amrish Puri, who worked in around 450 films, was known for his punctuality and valued his time. His work ethic was well-known in the industry. One time, Amrish Puri and Govinda were working together on a film. The shooting was supposed to start at 9 am, Amrish Puri reached but Govinda was nowhere to be seen.
As per media reports, Govinda came late on the set by about 9 hours. After this, Amrish Puri lost his cool and reportedly slapped Govinda after an argument. Reports state that this incident with Amrish Puri disturbed Govinda so much that he vowed to never work with him again.
Amrish Puri is remembered for his villainous roles
He played many villainous roles like Mogambo in Mr. India, Bhujang in Tridev, Balwant Rai in Ghayal, Barrister Chadda in Damini and Thakur Durjan Singh in Karan Arjun and all the characters that he played are remembered to date.
