That Personality

There are some people for whom we wish they should never die, like our near and dear ones, but there are others for whom we never think they would ever die. Amrish Puri was one of them. I never gave a thought that a person with such a towering persona could ever die.

Dead that he may be now, his works will him keep alive. And I hope these news channels stop rewinding those recordings of 'Mogambo Khush Hua'. He did much more than that.

I wish if only he had been better used by the directors, he would have entertained us more with his immense talent. They just made him shout and stare in most of his movies. They would never learn that a voice like his needed no shouting. A subtle variation would have created much better expression.

Amongst the few exception were the directors like Govind Nihalini, Benegal, Priyadarshan, and perhaps, Santoshi. Still remember how effectively he played the part of a corrupt senior officer in Drohkal, never raising his voice even once. Gardish was another movie where he was superb in the role of honest but hapless senior constable and father. I cried when he died in Ghatak just because of the way he portrayed that character. And remember how mean he looked as barrister Chaddha in Damini?

After Pran and Amjad Khan, probably he was the next best villain, and later, like them, he switched very smoothly to the character roles. Hope he had carried on more.