When Amrish Puri Turned Down A Role In Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom ( Photo Credit – Getty image / Steven Spielberg ; Wikipedia / Amrish Puri ; IMDb )
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Legendary actor Amrish Puri is an important figure in Indian cinema. He is well remembered for his baritone voice and for playing iconic villainous roles in Bollywood films. He is also one of the first Indian actors to appear in a globally successful Hollywood film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
The late actor played the villain role of Mola Ram in Steven Spielberg’s 1984 film. Western audiences still remember him for his amazing performance in the film. But did you know the late actor turned down the role? Scroll down to know more.
( Photo Credit – Wikipedia )
Amrish Puri in his autobiography ‘The Act Of Life’ mentioned that Hollywood’s celebrated director Steven Spielberg was denied permission to shoot Temple of Doom in India. So the director set up the film in Sri Lanka, Macau and London, reports Hindustan Times.
When American casting agents came down to India and asked Amrish to audition for the role of Mola Ram in the film, he denied it. The actor not only refused to audition for the role but also asked them to watch him perform on the sets of his new film.
Amrish Puri also refused to read out a page of text in English and said to the casting agents, “How does Spielberg know what language do I speak? He would know me as an actor.” The casting director Dolly Thakore then sent stills of him from the horror film Gehrayee to Spielberg.
( Photo Credit – Wikipedia )
The report reveals that Amrish then eventually agreed for the part and found the production very impressive. In his biography, the actor even described Steven Spielberg as “very boyish, an unassuming kind of person.”
Talking about the crew, he wrote “None of them had any ego, problems or reservations about my being an Indian. Unlike many of our actors in Indian films, there was expertise at all levels, and you couldn’t just do anything and get away with it.”
