Indian movie actor Amrish Puri is a very prominent star of Bollywood. This is a landmark name in the field of villainous roles in the industry. Amrish was born on 22 June 1932 in the district named Nawanshehar in Punjab. He was the son of Lala Nihal Chand and Ved Kaur and was the third among four siblings. His elder brothers Chaman Puri and Madan Puri have established themselves as notable actors. Puri graduated from B.M. College in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. He married Urmila Devi on 5 January 1957 and the couple two children, son Rajeev Puri, and daughter Namrata Puri. The actor had a fascination towards hats and had a collection of over 200 hats. The pious actor is a Shiv devotee.

Amrish Puri`s Early Career
After coming to Mumbai, Amrish failed at his first screen test and joined as a worker with the Ministry of Labour. Amrish began performing at the Prithvi Theatre, in plays written by Satyadev Dubey. His works brought colour when he became well-known as stage actor and won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1979. This theatre recognition soon led to work in television ads and eventually to films at the age of 40. Amrish Puri worked in multi lingual films like in Hindi, Hollywood, Punjabi, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil films.

Amrish Puri`s Bollywood Career
Amrish Puri appeared in his first film, `Prem Pujari` in 1970 although the first film he had signed for was `Reshma Aur Shera` which released in 1971. This was followed by many villain or supporting roles in numerous art films. After `Reshma Aur Shera`, he had to wait a long time till filmmaker Shyam Benegal offered him roles in films like `Nishaant`, `Manthan` and `Bhumika`. He also acted in `Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda` which got National film award as best film. He also appeared in Govind Nihalani`s film, Party in 1984. He caught the attention of the box office with several hits in the 1980s and 90s including Vidhaata, Phool Aur Kaante, Mr India and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. He is best known for the role of Mogambo in sci-fi movie of Shekhar Kapoor Mr. India with his super hit dialogue `Mogambo khush hua`. His other movies are listed as Koyla, Karan Arjun, Aaj Ka Arjun, Pardes, Taal, Aitraaz. His last films were Kachchi Sadak and Kisna: The Warrior Poet.

Amrish Puri has also made his mark in Telgu, Tamil and Kannada movies. He worked in one Malayalam movie `Kalapani` where also he showed his excel. In punjabi film named Chan Pardesi he played the role of a landlord villain. He also played some of the Telegu films named as Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari, Major Chandrakanth, Aditya-369, Kondaveeti Donga, Aswamedham, Aakhari Poratam, etc. His Kannada films include Simhada Mari Saniya, Subbi Subbaka Suvalali, Love and few other movies. He made his mark in two of his films named Dalapathi by Mani Ratnam and `Baba` by Rajnikanth.

In the International domain Puri worked in Steven Spielberg`s `Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom` where his character as Mola Ram is still remembered. Amrish Puri, Bollywood Actor Puri also had a minor role in Richard Attenborough`s Gandhi playing the Indian independence leader`s Muslim sponsor in South Africa..

Awards and Honours to Amrish Puri
Indian movie actor Amrish Puri has won lot of awards in his whole acting career. In 1968 he won the Maharashtra State Drama Competition. In 1979 he won Sangeet Natak Akadmi award. He won Filmfare best supporting actor award for `Meri Jung` in 1986. in 1991 he also received the Maharashtra State Gaurav Puraskar. For `Suraj ka Satvan Ghoda` the actor won the best actor award in Sydney film festival. He has also got best actor in Singapore Film festival for the same film. In 1997 he got Filmfare as well as Star Screen award as best supporting actor for `Ghatak`. He also got best supporting actor in Filmfare and also Star Screen once again for `Virasat`.

Amrish Puri has appeared in over four hundred movies altogether. His dominating screen presence & booming voice made him stand out amongst a sea of actors. On 12th January 2005 this Indian movie actor Amrish Puri died of brain haemorrhage at the age of 72. He suffered a blood clot in the brain and slipped into coma. His autobiography titled, `The Act of Life` was published in 2006, and is seen as the document of the cinema of his times.