Amrish Lal Puri (22 June 1932 – 12 January 2005) was an Indian actor, who was an important figure in Indian theatre and cinema.
He worked with notable playwrights of the time, including Satyadev Dubey and Girish Karnad.
He is remembered for playing iconic villainous roles in Hindi cinema as well as other Indian and international film industries. For Indian audiences, he is most remembered for his role as Mogambo in Shekhar Kapur’s Hindi film Mr. India (1987), and to Western audiences, he is best known as Mola Ram in Steven Spielberg’s Hollywood film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). Puri won two Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actor.
Puri acted in more than 500 films between 1967 and 2005, and was one of the most successful villains in Bollywood. Most of them were hits. He was the most respected actors of all times.
His villainous acting was one of the most appreciated. His roles will always stay in our hearts. He was an institution in himself.