Personal details
- Birth Date: 1932-06-22
- Height: 5′ 10½″ (1.79 m)
- Birth Location: Nawanshahr, Jullundur, Punjab, British India
- Children: (his death, 2 children) Rajiv Puri
- Professions: Actor, Music Department, Soundtrack
For Amrish Puri, acting wasn’t some overnight thing—it brewed for decades before finally exploding when he hit his 40s. Dude wanted to be a hero, yeah, but Bollywood had other plans. Instead, he became the supervillain everyone secretly loved. That voice—deep enough to rattle your bones—and that look? Like he could melt steel with a stare. His one-liners, from “Mogambo khush hua” to “Dong kabhi wrong nahin hota,” are basically legends now. Sure, he slayed it in artsy movies with Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani, but he owned the loud, over-the-top baddies in mainstream flicks too. Even Spielberg and Attenborough grabbed him for their movies—Indiana Jones and Gandhi, no big deal—and yet, he always circled back to Bollywood, like it was home. But the guy behind all those scary roles? Straight-up gentleman. His son Rajeev calls him a karma-yogi—so, yeah, big on discipline and punctuality, which probably came from his RSS days in Shimla. He started out balancing a day job at ESIC and amateur theater by night, rubbing shoulders with legends like Alkazi and Karnad. Oh, and fun fact: he failed a screen test in 1953. Ouch. Did that stop him? Not a chance. He ended up in over 350 films, with “Mogambo” from Mr. India cementing his place in cinema history. Even now, his movies are always playing somewhere, and Rajeev still gets stopped as “Mogambo’s son”—proof that some villains just never die.
Movies trivia information: nDude had a reputation for bringing some seriously nasty villains to life on the big screen—like, the kind of bad guys who make you want to throw popcorn at the TV. But here’s the kicker: off-camera, he was the total opposite. Harrison Ford, who’s not exactly known for tossing around empty compliments, actually called him one of the nicest and kindest actors he’d ever met. That’s saying something, coming from Indiana Jones himself. It’s wild how someone can be so convincing as pure evil in their roles, but then turn around and just be this genuinely sweet person on set. Kind of makes you rethink all those moments where you’re booing the villain, right? The man had range, both in acting chops and in just being a solid human being. So next time you watch him sneering on screen, just remember: he was probably cracking jokes with the crew right after the director yelled cut.
June 22, 1932
5′ 10½″ (1.79 m)
Konidela Ram Charan
Nawanshahr, Jullundur, Punjab, British India
Yes, Rajiv Puri
93 years old