Amrish Puri portrayed the character of Mola Ram, a Thuggee priest in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom which was released in 1984

In one of his interviews, Spielberg commented, 'Amrish is my favourite villain -- The best the world has ever produced and ever will.'

At first, Amrish Puri was reluctant to act in Indiana Jones', but Sir Richard Attenborough convinced him to take up the character.Amrish Puri had a brief role as Khan in Attenborough's Gandhi (1982). In Indiana Jones, Amrish Puri shaved his head for the first time, and it went on to become a trademark in subsequent Bollywood films, where he played the dreaded villain

Amrish Puri had a passion for hats and had a collection of nearly 200 gathered from across the globe

Amrish Puri was suffering from myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare kind of blood cancer, and had undergone some brain invasive surgery for his condition after he was admitted to the Hinduja hospital in 2004

Amrish Puri died following a brain haemorrhage in 2005. His condition required frequent removal of the blood accumulated in the cerebral region of the brain