During the press show of popular character artiste Ranjit’s own production ‘Kaaranama’, sometime in November 1990 I encountered this renowned actor with rich voice, called Amrish Puri. The show had witnessed almost a full house, as the film had a different story, with a race horse playing an equally important role besides Vinod Khanna in the lead. Few of us were standing in the passage and waiting for extra chairs, when Ranjit himself asked us to occupy the front row, which was normally reserved for the special invitees or artistes of the film. So, we quickly occupied our seats. However, there was one seat on my left side still vacant, and I saw the big Villain of Bollywood rushing quickly to occupy it. He did apologize to all of us, for being late. Well known senior Film Photographer Umesh Vyas ( who was seated to my right) who knew Mr. Puri very well, bent forward and greeted him. Watching them exchange pleasantries, I suggested Mr. Umesh to occupy my seat in exchange, but Mr. Puri put his arm around me and suggested me to remain in my seat, saying, “Are koi baat nahi, aap bhi suno.” ( No problem, you also listen..)
Amrish Puri as Mogambo
He started telling the reason for his coming late. Actually his car was stolen the previous night and he had gone to Police station to check the progress of investigation.” Pataa nahi, kaise chori huyi? Meri car meri aur Do caron ke bichmein pack karke park ki huyi thi. Lekin chor ka kamaal toh dekho , yeh beechwali car hi usne utha li,” he added. Then suddenly he started tapping his fingers on the sofa hand rest and this invited our attention. Umesh asked him about these big rings in each of his four fingers. And he was more than happy to explain . “In rings ke saath meri Mr. India mein entry hai. Hua yeh ki main isi tarah shooting se pahele meri ungaliyonko tap kar raha tha. Aur Director Shekhar Kapoor ki nazar uspar padi. Unhon ne turant cameraman se kaha Ki meri entry mere rings ko tap karne ke saath hogi. “ I was witness to this interesting talk, till the trial show finally began. During the show, he was appreciating some of the scenes with his spontaneous reaction. So, it was a different experience for me that evening with Mr. Mogambo, the character he played in the film ‘Mr. India’. It was like sharing few memorable moments in the company of Mr. Mogambo.
Mogambo’s entry with his rings
I had met Amrish Puri once before, on the sets of his film ‘Shahenshah’ sometime in 1987 at Seth Studios, when the huge well decorated set of his bungalow was to be demolished by the hero of the film Amitabh Bachchan. So, he was busy completing shooting of his previous scenes on this set, when I met him. What I noticed that time was his curiosity to check his voice modulation from the sound recordist after every shot. He was also very eager to know from us as to how effective was his dialogue delivery. As per my memory it was because of his graceful dialogue delivery, all the characters played by him during 80s and 90s posed a big challenge to the lead actors in those films. Indeed, a popular hero needs powerful opposition to come from villain to make his own character look stronger.
Today, he is not amongst us, but the variety of roles played by him in so many films, speak volumes of his strength as a committed actor. Just thought of sharing this memory on the occasion of his birth anniversary today.