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Amrish Puri dies of brain haemorrhage

Mumbai, January 12
Bollywood actor Amrish Puri passed away in a hospital here on Wednesday morning after a brain haemorrhage. He was 72.

Sources said Puri had fallen at his home last week, which resulted in a blood clot in the brain. He had undergone surgery to remove the clot. He was already under treatment for malaria when he slipped into a coma from which he never recovered.

The funeral was likely to take place on Thursday, sources said.

The Mogambo of Indian cinema was born on June 22, 1932, and made his Bollywood debut in 1971 with Reshma Aur Shera after several years as a theatre and advertising personality.

He was popular as a “voice” in several radio and film commercials before Bollywood beckoned.

The actor, who straddled the worlds of art and commercial cinema with ease, did a number of memorable roles in art house films like Nishaant, Manthan and Bhumika. However, he is best known for his role as the comic-book villain, Mogambo, in Boney Kapoor’s Mr India.

He went on to do roles in Hollywood movies like Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Gandhi.

His last film was Mujhse Shaadi Karogi with Akshay Kumar, Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor.

Amrish Puri is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. — IANS