Was Amrish Puri the most dangerous villain in Bollywood?

 I believe the biggest injustice done to the Hindi Film industry was to categorise Amrish Puri as Villain. He was as good (or even better) in positive roles and did fair number of parallel cinema films that many people overlook. I would anyday prefer the Amrish Puri of Nishant, Bhumika, Aakrosh, Party, Suraj ka Saatvan Ghoda, Gardish, Virasat etc. where you see Amrish Puri the actor not merely as a stereotypical villain.

There were Bob Christo, Manik Irani, Prem Chopra and Ranjeet type of actors who were limited actors and therefore they can't go much beyond the typical villain roles.

Then there were Pran, Amrish Puri, Danny Dengzongpa level of actors who were terrific actors who could play any role perfectly. So these actors were great villains not because they looked menacing or they could sound ruthless but because they were terrific actors and could play well even the most ridiculous roles. Any other actor would have made a caricature out of Mogambo and Indiana Jones roles but Amrish Puri was able to pull it off.

Amrish Puri had a terrific voice and brilliant screen presence which made him intimidating. Add to that his acting skills he was a lethal actor.

Was Amrish Puri the most dangerous villain in Bollywood?

He looked scary

Very few villains have looked fearsome on their own

Many have had to use exaggerated expressions to appear evil (Nambiar , famous South Indian villain for instance)

Others have needed to use a false gruff voice, costumes and menacing make up (Gulshan Grover for instance )

Even as a young man , there was something SCARY about his appearance that appealed to most directors

His natural voice had the baritone that added to the menace

To the best of my knowledge - only this guy from Thudarum managed to deliver so much menace naturally by just being there

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Lead Actors marked him out

Most Actors WANTED HIM as the bad guy

Many Directors would FIRST TAKE PURI SAHABS DATES and then go for the Actors dates

For Ajooba , Shashi Kapoor and Bachchan personally visited Puris house and offered him ₹20 Lakh for acting as a villain and managed to extract 24 days for his scenes

He was similar to Goundamani & Senthil in Tamil except they were comedians and their dates were always sought after first

He demolished the careers of several villains like Prem Chopra or Ajit who had to move to positive roles to survive

Very rarely has Bollywood had such a man who simply looked menacing and had a menacing voice and was also a brilliant actor

Puri was the entire package

Lee Van Cleef of Hollywood is another who was menacing to look at, whose voice implied Villain and who rarely played good guy

Which are the top 10 movies of Amrish Puri?

 In terms of purely acting and content perspective i like the following films of Amrish Puri

Aakrosh (1980)- This is the first film which I saw in childhood where I saw Amrish Puri in a positive role that too in an art film. It opened my horizon to his acting range. The film won 6 filmfares and 1 National award.

Ardh Satya (1983)- Another National award winning movie with exemplary performances by both the Puris (Om and Amrish). Very hard hitting and realistic cop movie with Amrish playing a sadistic and machoistic and egotistic father who makes you hate him without him being outrightly villainous.

Party (1984)- A very subdued performance by Amrish Puri in a film based on a play and situated in a single night story. Even though I don't always agree with the ideology of the film it provides fodder for thought to the viewers. Meant for intellectual stimulation rather than entertainment.

Mr. India (1987)- One of the most popular performances of Amrish Puri where he played a Hitleresque character with lines like Mogambo Khush Hua and Hail Mogambo. The role could have been caricaturish in the hand of a lesser actor.

Gardish (1993)- One of his best and most emotional performance along with Jackie Shroff. Remake of National awards winning Malyalam film Kireedam, Gardish is a very strong dramatic film where Amrish Puri plays a police constable who want to see his son join forces as an officer. The scenes between him and Jackie are the highlight of the film.

Ghatak (1996)- Another dramatic role of Amrish Puri particularly his scene before his death in the film are emotional. He provides emotional anchor to the film. He won a filmfare award for best supporting actor for the film

Viraasat (1997)- He was in the film for about 40–45 minutes and by the end of the film he is the character who stays with you. Such mesmerizing performance by Amrish Puri. He overshdowed everyone in the film. Remake of National award winning Thevar Magan, Amrish Puri played the role played by Shivaji Ganeshan, and he won a filmfare best supporting actor award for the film.

Suraj ka Saatvan Ghoda (1992)- Negative role but not typical one, his performance adds a lots of layers and nuances to the film and character. He won 2 international awards for best actor for this film. Very underrated film

Damini (1993)- Who can forget the Dhai Kilo ka haath of Sunny Paji. But it was possible because the opponent was equally strong. One of the best courtroom dramas with career best performances by Sunny and Meenakshi Seshadri. Amrish Puri plays the perfect spoilsport in the film.

Chachi 420 (1997)- it was so refreshing to see him do delightful comedy in the film which he is not generally associated with. His performance and his chemistry with his secretary Om Puri is hilarious.

Honourable mentions: Meri Jung (1985) (liked his performance very much but didn't like the film), Dilwale Dulhaniya le jayenge (1995) (one of the memorable father roles he did I like him very much in such roles especially in mid films like Mohabbat (1985) , Gadar ek Prem Katha (2001) (a bit melodramatic but effective)