Amrish Puri

Amrish Lal Puri (Punjabi: ਅਮਰੀਸ਼ ਪੁਰੀ, Hindi: अमरीश पुरी, Urdu: اَمریش پُری; June 22, 1932 - January 02, 2005) was an iconic Indian actor who appeared primarily in negative roles in Hindi movies. His most remembered roles are Mogambo in the Hindi film Mr India (1987) and Mola Ram in the Hollywood film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).

He played character roles and was well-known as a villain. His striking bass voice, the ability to extend his eyes widely out of their eyelids during climactic scenes and outsize acting style made him a convincing villain in even the most melodramatic movies.

Personal life of Amol Palekar

Palekar has exhibited his sketches, drawings, and paintings in Mumbai. He also does some social work and he is married to Sandhya Gokhale.

Palekar regards himself an agnostic

Career of Amol Palekar

Theater career

Palekar began in Marathi experimental theatre with Satyadev Dubey, and he later started his own group, 'Aniket', in 1972. He introduced Theatre of the Absurd to Maharashtra and a street theatre-inspired practice of performing plays in the round.

Movie career

He made his debut in 1971 with the noted Marathi film Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe directed by Satyadev Dubey, which started the ‘New Cinema’ Movement in Marathi.^[1]

In 1974 he was cast as an actor by Basu Chatterjee in Rajnigandha, and a surprise low-budget hit, Chhoti Si Baat, with none of the conventonal trappings of Bollywood Cinema. This led to many other such roles in "middle-class" comedies, mostly alternative cinema. These were often directed by Chatterjee or Hrishikesh Mukherjee and include such films as Gol Maal and Naram Garam. He won the Filmfare Best Actor Award for Gol Maal.

He is famous for his image of the "middle-class everyman" who struggles to get a job (Gol-Maal), his own flat (Gharonda), a girlfriend/wife (Baaton Baaton Mein), appreciation from his boss, etc.

In 1982 he played the role of "Ravi Chettan" in the acclaimed Malayalam movie Olangal.

His acting is naturalistic and understated, as opposed to the histrionic, melodramatic performances typical of Bollywood. However, he does techniques that have become audience favorites, such as a difficulty with finding words when stressed, almost to the point of stammering. He usually plays "the Good Indian Boy, the kind your mother-in-law would like!"

Interestingly, in his entire career he has never portrayed a Muslim or a Sikh (though he did portray an Indian Catholic in Baaton Baaton Mein in 1977) which is considered de rigueur for mainstream Bollywood stars in order to cultivate the widest possible fan base in a country with substantial minorities.

He turned to directing with the Marathi film Aakriet.

He showed his capabilities as a director with his movie Paheli which was India's official entry in the race for Best Foreign Film at the 2006 Oscars. The movie, however, did not make it to the final nominations.

Amol Palekar

Amol Palekar (Marathi: अमोल पालेकर; born 24 November 1944) is a well known actor of the 1970s and later a director of notable Hindi and Marathi cinema.

Death of Amjad Khan

In 1976, he had met with a near fatal accident on the Bombay-Goa road, when he drove his car into a tree while trying to avoid a boulder. The drugs administered to him for treatment caused a serious weight problem for the rest of his life. As a result of his increasing weight he died in 1992 after suffering from a heart failure at the age of 51. Several of the films he had completed when he was alive were released after his death - right until 1996. His funeral procession passed from his house in Pali Hill to the Muslim Burial in Bandra East. All major movie stars at that time attended and could be seen walking through the narrow lanes of Bandra

Career of Amjad Khan

Before Amjad came to films he was a theatre actor. His first film was as a child artist at the age of 17 in the film Ab Dilli Dur Nahin (1957). He had assisted K. Asif in the film Love and God in the late 1960s and had also made a brief appearance in the film which would have been his official film debut. But the film was left incomplete after K. Asif's death in 1971 and it ended up releasing in 1986. In 1973 he made his debut in Hindustan Ki Kasam.

In 1975 he was offered the role of a dacoit Gabbar Singh for the film Sholay (meaning flames) by Salim who was one of the film's writers. For his preparation for the role Amjad read Abhishapth Chambal, a book on Chambal dacoits written by Taroon Kumar Bhaduri (actress Jaya Bhaduri's father). Amjad shot to stardom with the movie. His portrayal of Gabbar Singh is considered by many to be the first depiction of pure evil on the screen in Indian Cinema; a totally evil character who doesn't make excuses for its evil. "Arre O' Sambha, Kitne Aadmi The"— is one of the most popular line of Bollywood mouthed.

The movie Sholay is one of the all-time blockbuster movies in India and one of the highest earners, and although the movie had a cast of superstars including Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra the most memorable character was considered to be that of Gabbar Singh. Amjad Khan later appeared in advertisements as Gabbar Singh endorsing Parle-G biscuits, and it was the first incidence of a villain being used to sell a popular product.

After the success of Sholay Khan continued to play villain roles in many subsequent Hindi films in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s - superseding, in terms of popularity and demand, the earlier Indian actor, Ajit - portraying more sophisticated and urbane criminal bosses, mastermind of bank robberies, murders and conspiracies to seize power. He often acted as villain opposite Amitabh Bachchan as the hero.

Khan was also acclaimed for playing many other unconventional roles. In the critically acclaimed film Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977), directed by Satyajit Ray, Khan played the helpless and deluded monarch Wajid Ali Shah, whose kingdom, Avadh, is being targeted by British colonialists from the British East India Company. It is the only movie in which he dubbed song. He played a positive role opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Yaarana (1981) where he played Bachchan's character's best friend and in Laawaris as Amitabh's father. In the art film Utsav (1984), he portrayed Vatsayana, the author of the Kama Sutra. In 1988 he appeared in the Merchant-Ivory English film The Perfect Murder as an underworld don. He also excelled at playing comical characters in films such as Qurbani (1980), Love Story, and Chameli Ki Shaadi (1986). In 1991, he reprised his role as Gabbar Singh in Ramgarh Ke Sholay, a parody of the legendary film which also included look-alikes of Amitabh Bachchan and Dev Anand.

He also ventured into directing for a brief period in the 1980s directing and also starring in Chor Police (1983) and Ameer Aadmi Gareeb Aadmi (1985) but both films failed to do well at the box office.

Amjad was also the President of the Actors Guild association. As mentioned earlier, he had been a leader in college and was respected in the film industry too. He would intervene and negotiate disputes between actors and directors/producers. There was one such dispute in which Dimple Kapadia had agreed to play a role of a mother in a movie and later backed down. The entire film producer community tried to boycott her. Amjad did intervene on behalf of the Actors Guild.

Early life of Amjad Khan

Born in Hyderabad to Muslim parents. He was the son of legendary actor Jayant. He was the brother of fellow actor Imtiaz Khan and Inayat Khan who only acted in one film. In 1957, he was cast in the movie Ab Dili Dur Nahin, as a child artist. His family hails from Peshawar, Pakistan.

Khan did schooling at St Theresa's High School, Bandra. He attended R D National College, Bandra and was the General Secretary - the highest elected student body representative. He had already gained a reputation of being a heavyweight "dada" and was feared and respected.