Amrish Puri learned acting by watching Tom and Jerry: Seeing his acting, Raj Kapoor had said- you will become the pride of the industry one day

When we talk about iconic and dangerous villains of Indian cinema, the name of Amrish Puri comes first in the mind. Today is the 92nd birth anniversary of Amrish Puri, who was born on 22 June 1932 in Nawanshahr Jalandhar, Punjab. On the actor’s birth anniversary, his grandson Vardhan Puri came to the office of Dainik Bhaskar in Mumbai and became emotional remembering his grandfather. Amrish Puri is fondly called Dadu by Vardhan Puri. During the conversation, Vardhan told that many big personalities of the industry were fans of Dadu’s plays. Once Raj Kapoor sahab came to watch the play, the auditorium was full of people. He watched the play sitting on the floor. After the play was over, he went on the stage and hugged Dadu and said that Amrish will become the pride of the industry one day. Vardhan considered his grandfather as his best. He says – Dadu was my best friend and will always be. Whenever he is mentioned, there is a smile on his face and tears in his eyes. The atmosphere at home was like that of a middle class family. The image of Dadu was such that the school children were afraid to come to his home. Dadu loved Tom and Jerry. Today, on Amrish Puri’s birth anniversary, let’s learn some interesting stories from his grandson Vardhan Puri, in his own words… We never knew that Dadu was a big star. We were not allowed to go to Dadu’s shooting. Grandfather and grandmother believed that if we went to the set, we would go crazy. We would start feeling that we were different or special from other children. The atmosphere at home was also very simple. My sister and I were brought up like a middle class family. We never knew that Dadu was a big star. We thought that our grandfather was like other grandfathers, who go to office in the morning and come home at night. The hotel manager did not charge the bill when we went out for dinner or to someone’s house. Seeing the crowd of people, seeing them shouting his name, we realized that Dadu was a big personality. Once we went to Taj Hotel for dinner. The manager and the rest of the hotel staff came and stood around us. I am thinking that this kind of hospitality is not being provided to the other tables. The manager did not take the bill from Dadu. He packed the cakes and gave them to us. I kept thinking throughout the way that Dadu must be a big personality. The parents of the school children used to forbid him from coming to my house. Seeing the villainous image of Dadu in films, the parents of the school children used to say that make friends with Vardhan, but do not go to his house. I don’t know what kind of atmosphere would be there at home? People used to think about Dadu’s image in films that there would be a big fan in the house. He would be sitting on a chair and sipping cigars and wine. Dadu never drank alcohol or cigarettes. He was very disciplined. But after watching the films, people had a different perception about him. Because of this, the school children were very scared. Before coming to my house, they used to ask whether Amrish ji would be at home? He used to say that he would come when Dadu was not at home. Once Dadu came to know about this. Dadu was at home. We were playing. Dadu came inside and seeing him all the children started crying loudly. But Dadu mingled with the children in such a way that the children enjoyed playing with him. The children themselves started telling their parents that they wanted to go to Amrish Puri uncle’s house. He had imposed a ban on going to the set. Once I went to the set of the film ‘Chori Chori Chupke Chupke’ with my sister and aunt’s children. The assistant directors and the production people were very happy that Amrish Puri ji’s family had come. Someone asked what would we eat? I said I would eat sandwiches and my sister said I would drink coffee. Sandwiches and coffee were coming from Taj Hotel and we were being served in silver plates. They thought that Dadu would be happy to see all this. But when Dadu came to know about it, he got very angry. He said why are you treating the children like this? He will lose his mind. If he asks for something, give him a chocolate, he will be happy with that. After that, Dadu banned me from going on the sets forever. Did not let me work as a child artist I got a chance to work as a child artist with a Dadu in Subhash Ghai sahab’s film ‘Pardes’. I was very excited that I was getting a chance to work with Dadu. I was celebrating this happiness. But Dadu refused. He said that this will affect my studies. I became very sad. I also got angry with Dadu. It was not that Dadu was against my acting career. He believed that any work should be done on time. First become capable enough to take a decision about yourself. That role was later played by Aditya Narayan. Grandmother explained that Dadu is doing this for your own good. You will understand his words when you grow up. When I was 15-16 years old, I understood that Dadu was right. There was no culture of film politics and gossip at home. We used to talk about films at home, but we never talked about films. There was no talk about gossip and film politics. At home, there was talk about stories and techniques. There was talk about the film process of the greats. There was talk about the film making process of Raj Kapoor, Yash Chopra and Subhash Ghai. The atmosphere at home is very positive. Dadu’s father, that is, my great grandfather Nihal Chand Puri, had decided that the culture of gossip will not work in our family. Whoever is interested in all these things will go out of the house and talk. Yash Chopra had said that ‘Phool Aur Kaante’ will be made a super hit. Yash Chopra sahab’s ‘Lamhe’ and Ajay Devgan’s debut film ‘Phool Aur Kaante’ were released at the same time. All the big names were in ‘Lamhe’. In ‘Phool Aur Kaante’, everyone was new except Dadu. At that time, no one was talking about Phool Aur Kaante. Everyone was sure that ‘Lamhe’ would be a superhit. It was a very amazing film, but it did not work. ‘Phool Aur Kaante’ became a superhit. Yash Chopra ji called Dadu and said, ‘Amrish Puri sahab, you have done a great job, we had such a big film, it is not working. You made ‘Phool Aur Kaante’ a superhit. Everyone is saying that you are the selling point of the film. This is called Amrish Puri Magic.’ Raj Kapoor had watched the play sitting on the ground. Many big personalities of the industry were big fans of Dadu’s plays. Dadu told me that one day it was raining very heavily. The roads were filled with water. Raj Kapoor sahab came to watch the play. The auditorium was full of people. Raj Kapoor sahab watched the play sitting on the ground. After the play was over, he went on stage and hugged Dadu. While kissing Dadu in the ear, he said – Amrish, one day you will become the pride of the industry, that time is about to come. We have a very special relationship with the Kapoor family. Our family’s first house in Matunga is still there. Next to it is the Kapoor family’s house. Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Rajiv Kapoor grew up there. When my grandmother was pregnant, Shashi Kapoor ji’s wife was also pregnant at the same time. We used to walk together. Since then our family has a relationship with the Kapoor family. Raj Kapoor sahab had told Rishi Kapoor uncle about Dadu that one day this bomb is going to explode. When it explodes, the whole world will hear its echo. Madan Puri had told Subhash Ghai about Amrish Puri. Dadu had a very loving relationship with Subhash Ghai sahab. He used only Dadu’s voice in his first film. Ghai sahab used to work with Madan Dadu (Madan Puri). Madan Dadu had told Subhash Ghai sahab about Dadu that I have a younger brother. Who is a better actor than me. If you meet him, you will forget all the villains, meet him once. Subhash Ghai had taken Dadu in his mind at first sight. Dadu used to do theatre apart from working in ESIC. One day he went to Madan Dadu’s set and touched his feet. Ghai sahab’s eyes fell on him. He said that he has never seen such a Roman face. Since then he had taken Dadu in his mind. Whenever he wrote a script, he used to write keeping Dadu’s image in mind. The way Ghai sahab has shot Dadu’s introduction scene in ‘Hero’. I have not seen such an introduction scene of any character in any other film. Tom and Jerry was his favourite programme. I used to sit and watch Tom and Jerry with Dadu. Dadu used to tell me that he learned acting by watching Tom and Jerry. Dadu thought the acting of Tom and Jerry and the chemistry between them was amazing. He would always say that if you want to learn acting, then watch Tom and Jerry. There is no show more entertaining than this. The entertainment level of this show cannot be beaten by anyone. Apart from this, he used to watch Charlene Chaplin’s movies a lot. He had great respect for Kishore Kumar. He used to say that no artist like him has been born and will never be born. He used to watch all of Kishore Da’s movies. He watched Mughal-e-Azam 300 times. Apart from all Kishore Kumar’s movies, Dadu used to watch Raj Kapoor’s movies. We must have watched ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ 300 times with Dadu in our home theater. Do Bigha Zameen, Pyaasa, Awara, Bobby, Mr. India have been Dadu’s favorite movies. He used to watch every movie again and again. Dadu used to say – I watch a movie for the story for the first time. Then I watch it separately for performance, technique, background music, cinematography. In this way Dadu used to watch every film 20-25 times. Dadu wanted to do theatre very much. But due to being busy in films, he was not able to do theatre. But three years before his death, he did a play ‘Kanupriya’ in Pune, which was directed by Satyadev Dubey. I could not go there. But Amol Palekar sahab told a very amazing story. When Dadu was performing, he got goosebumps. Because he was performing after many years. As soon as the performance ended and the curtain closed, he fell on the ground and started crying. Everyone got worried about what happened. He kept crying for 10 minutes. When he got up, he said only one thing that every artist lives for this moment. When he connects directly with the audience. Which is not found in cinema. The industry remained closed for two days after his demise. Amrish Puri died on 12 January 2004. Vardhan said- There is never a holiday in the film industry. When Dadu died, there was no shooting for two days. Everyone was mourning at home, crying, everyone was sad. Everyone was saying that this is the first time in the industry that no one worked. There can be no greater honour than the honour given to Dadu by the film industry.

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