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How 'Aao kabhi haveli pe' immortalises Amrish Puri

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Gautam Chintamani
Gautam ChintamaniJun 22, 2017 | 21:18

How 'Aao kabhi haveli pe' immortalises Amrish Puri

Had Amrish Puri been alive today, he would have celebrated his 85th birthday and in his own imitable style would have even suggested to those demanding a party or a drink, "Aao kabhi haveli par." The legendary actor who died a little more than a decade ago has enjoyed a recent resurgence in our collective popular culture thanks to a line, "Aao kabhi haveli par" attributed to him going viral and inspiring thousands of memes.

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In the parlance of our times, Puri sahab, even after his death continues, to be a "legend" far surpassing the "kids" and "adults".

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In most cinemas of the world, actors have to rely upon much more than an iconic line or two to assume greatness but screen immortality in Indian cinema often comes via a single iconic line that manages to capture the imagination of the audiences. What makes this better is that such immortality is not limited to leading men or women. Even an extra or unknown cast member could become unforgettable thanks to a timely one-liner.

So, you may not know the name of the actor but you may never forget the character Shankar saying, "Lekin yeh angrez log marte kyon hai?" in Sholay (1975). Similarly, the late character actor and one-time familiar villain Joginder Shelly ended up making an entire film, Ranga Khush (1975) based on his own two-word dialogue "Ranga khush" from Bindiya aur Bandook (1972), which had made him a popular name across thousands of homes in India.

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Aap ke paon dekhe, bahut haseen hain, inhen zameen par mat utaryega maile ho jayenge...

Interestingly enough, more than leading men or women it was the villain in Hindi cinema who often got some of the best lines. Of course, a Dilip Kumar's "Kaun kambakht hai joh bardaasht karne ke liye peeta hai... main toh peeta hoon ki bas saans le sakun" or Raaj Kumar's "Aap ke paon dekhe, bahut haseen hain, inhen zameen par mat utaryega maile ho jayenge..." are the stuff of legends.

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But in the 1950s and 1960s, most one-liners by the great Pran packed in as much punch and at times, greater than that of the heroes. Remember, the sheer simplicity of "Main bhi purana cheedie maar hoon, par katarne achchi tarah se jaanta hoon", "Tera baap Raaka!" or "Tokyo mein rehte ho par tokne ki aadat nahin gayee".

Even in the 1970s, it was Prem Chopra's "Prem naam hai mera, Prem Chopra..." or an Amjad Khan's "Kitne aadmi the" and Ajit's "Sara shehar mujhe Loin ke naam se jaanta hai..." were perhaps as popular as Rajesh Khanna's "I hate tears", Dharmendra's "Basanti in kutton ke saamne mat naachna", or Amitabh Bachchan's "Yeh police station hai tumhare baap ka ghar nahin".

It's not surprising then that many of the classic villain one-liners seem to have aged better and are more popular today.

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I hate tears...Inhe ponch lo

Perhaps that is why it is ironic when it comes to the villains, Amrish Puri, who has often been seen as one of Hindi cinema's greatest baddies, never really had any great lines besides "Mogambo khush hua" from Mr India to cement his immortality.

One of Puri's first important outings as the villain was in Feroz Khan's Qurbani ("Humara aadmi phele zindagi se alag hota hai, baad mein humse") and he even caught the eye of Steven Spielberg, who cast him as Molaram in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).

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One of the busiest villains in the 1980s, Puri entered a league of his own with Mr India and went on to feature as a great villain in Ram Lakhan, Saudagar, Ghayal, Damini and many more but the line that is today readily associated with the actor was never really uttered by him as directly as it's imagined.

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Amrish Puri did play Bhairav Nath, but he never said, 'Aao kabhi haveli pe...'

It is popularly assumed that it was in Nagina (1986) where Puri played Bhairav Nath, the snake charmer, mouthed the line "Aao kabhi haveli par" but perhaps this is a welcome addition to the list of great misquotations like "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken" by Oscar Wilde.

The quote is something that Wilde would have said but in reality, there are two Wilde quotes that could have helped someone come up with this: "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation" and "One's real life is so often the life that one does not lead."

It is the persona of Amrish Puri, and of course, the scary mug shot of his as Nagina's Bhairav Nath that makes "Aao kabhi haveli pe" readily acceptable as one of Amrish Puri's all-time great one-liners. Perhaps, the misquote that best explains it is: "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes", which has been attributed to everyone from Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, Thomas Jefferson, and many more whereas it was Jonathan Swift who coined it.

The closest that anything in Hindi films comes to being the origins of "Aao kabhi haveli pe" could be a scene from Dilwale featuring Paresh Rawal, Pramod Moutho and Sunil Shetty; Rawal tries to convey to Shetty, an honest cop, "Haveli pe aajaana (come to the Haveli)" and we will take care of you.

Perhaps, like "the game's afoot" is attributed to Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes' even though he never really utter it - because it is seems like a phrase that Holmes could "own" in millennial terms - "Aao kabhi haveli pe" no doubt sounds like a phrase an Amrish Puri could have made immortal.

Last updated: June 25, 2017 | 22:34
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