When Dilip Kumar Recommended Amrish Puri For Role Which Shaped His Career In Bollywood, Guess The Film?

If Boney Kapoor's 1987 superhero film Mr. India turned Amrish Puri into the comic book villain Mogambo, who remains a household name even after 37 years, then Mushir-Riaz action-drama Virasat, which released exactly a decade later in 1997, helped the actor change the course of his career with a strong positive supporting role. However, when director Priyadarshan proposed casting Bollywood's popular villain as Raja Thakur, many tried to dissuade him, pointing out that he would never be accepted in a role played by Shivaji Ganesan in the 1992 Tamil original.

More About Amrish Puri's Role In Virasat

Raja Thakur is Anil Kapoor's father whose sudden heart attack, brought on by disrespect in the village panchayat, compels his foreign-returned son to scrap his plans, stay back in his ancestral village, marry a village girl instead of his girlfriend and take his father's place as the zamindar. According to reports, Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar and Sunil Dutt had all been considered for the role before Amrish Puri entered the picture.

In journalist Roshmila Bhattacharya's book, Bad Men, the actor's grandson, Vardhan Puri, confirms that Dilip Kumar was indeed the first choice for the role and Mushir-Riaz, Priyadarshan and Boney Kapoor had even approached him. "But after listening to the narration, Dilip sahab told them that he could see only Amrish Puri as Raja Thakur. After hearing this, a phone call was made to Kamal Haasan, on whose story the film was based. After consulting him, my grandfather was approached," shares the younger Puri who is an actor himself.

Vardhan further reveals in this book released last month by Rupa Publications, that before accepting the role, his grandfather had a word with Dilip Kumar. The thespian reiterated what he had told the producer duo, the director and Boney Kapoor. "His endorsement meant a lot to my grandfather because he had grown up idolizing Dilip sahab, mesmerized by his performances on screen," he adds. Raja Thakur was unlike his usual villainous roles, but as Amrish Puri himself had pointed out, he was a dutiful father and a lovable grandfather in real life.

Jaya Bachchan's Old Video Saying Aishwarya Rai 'Is Not My Daughter' Goes Viral Amid Abhi-Aish Divorce Rumours
Bad Men: Bollywood's Iconic Villains is Roshmila Bhattacharya's fourth book after Bad Man, the memoir of Gulshan Grover, Matinee Men: My Journey Through Bollywood and Spooked! Bollywood's Encounters with the Paranormal. It showcases 13 popular bad men, including Pran, Ajit, Jeevan and Kiran Kumar, Ranjeet, Danny Denzongpa, Prem Chopra, Amjad Khan, Shakti Kapoor, Gulshan Grover, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Ashutosh Rana, Puneet Issar and Amjad himself. It is packed with many such anecdotes from the author's personal interactions with these khalnayaks, the friends, family and colleagues.