‘Was kicked out of Mr India and replaced by Amrish Puri; felt belittled, hurt, jealous', says Anupam Kher: ‘I wouldn't have played it so stiff'

Indian Express

16-07-2025

Actor Anupam Kher said that he was fired from the hit film Mr India and replaced by the legendary Amrish Puri, whose performance as Mogambo has gone down in Hindi cinema history as one of the greatest villainous acts ever. In an interview, Anupam said that he and director Shekhar Kapur had a different idea for the character, and that his performance wouldn't have been as stiff as what audiences eventually saw in the movie. He admitted in a new interview that being kicked out of the project made him feel belittled and jealous.
'Arrogance, if used in the right manner, is not a negative quality… Jealously is also very healthy if used in the right manner,' he said in appearance on Raj Shamani's podcast. Asked when he felt jealous, the actor said, 'When I was removed from Mr India and replaced as Mogambo by Amrish Puri. I felt small. After watching the film, I knew that I wouldn't have played the character so stiffly. Me and Shekhar had a different idea for the character, he would've been more Machiavellian.'
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Explaining further about what he felt at the time, Anupam said, 'I felt belittled. I wondered why I had been replaced, why I had been fired. It's natural to feel small. They did it for themselves. But that I understand now. Back then, I felt inferior, hurt, and jealous. 'How could he get the role?'' Anupam said that he watched Jack Nicholson's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest five times in a row when he was studying at the FTII. 'Professional jealously makes you want to push yourself,' he said.
In an earlier interview, Anupam had revealed that he was replaced after having filmed a large portion of the movie. 'Mogambo's role was offered to me before Amrish Puri. However, after one or two months, the filmmakers replaced me. When you are dropped from a film then generally an actor feels bad, but when I watched Mr India and saw Amrishji's work as Mogambo then, I thought that makers of the film took the right decision by casting him in their film,' Anupam had said earlier. In his autobiography, Amrish Puri admitted that he was apprehensive about taking on the role after so much of the movie had already been shot. 'I thought to myself, 'inhe ab jaakar meri yaad aayi (Now they remember me?)'' he wrote.