Mumbai, Aug 14 (IANS) Actor Vardhaan Puri has opened up about his grandfather and legendary actor Amrish Puri’s deep love for India.

He revealed a lesser-known chapter of his life that he believes reflected his patriotic spirit. Speaking about his grandfather, Vardhaan told IANS that Amrish Puri was born at a time when India was still under British rule and strongly opposed the idea of the country being governed by another nation. He revealed that Amrish Puri had a significant role to play in the freedom movement, a part of his life that he hopes to discuss publicly at the right time.

Vardhaan also spoke about how deeply Amrish Puri cared for the country. He revealed that while acting was his grandfather’s passion and life’s work, his love for India was something even more personal.

He shared, “My grandfather was born at a time when India was still under British rule. He was deeply opposed to the idea of our country being ruled by someone else, and there is a lesser-known chapter of his life in which he had a significant role to play in the freedom movement. It is something I hope to speak about publicly at the right time in the future. So, while the world knows him as one of India’s greatest actors, I personally also look at him as someone who, in his own way, was a freedom fighter.”

Vardhaan added, “He loved India to bits. I remember understanding, even as a child, how personally he took his work. But there was one thing even more personal to him than his work: his country. Whenever he played a negative character who represented an adversarial nation or portrayed someone who stood against India, he would feel it very deeply. For him, acting was his passion and his life’s work, but his love for India was something far greater and far more sacred.”

“That sense of pride, patriotism, and love for the country is perhaps one of the greatest things my grandparents passed down to us. It is a part of my inheritance that has nothing to do with cinema but everything to do with who we are as a family.”

Recalling his fond memories of Independence Day, the ‘Yeh Saali Aashiqui’ actor said, “Some of my most cherished childhood memories of my grandfather, Amrish Puri, are deeply intertwined with the culture of patriotism that existed in our home. On Independence Day and Republic Day, my grandparents would wake up early in the morning and sit before the television to watch the celebrations in Delhi. There was such fervor in them that they would stand for long stretches, barely taking a moment to sit down.”

“Their eyes would often be moist with emotion, and they would constantly say, “Bharat Mata Ki Jai,” “Vande Mataram,” and “Jai Hind.” That was the atmosphere I grew up in. Patriotism wasn’t something we spoke about occasionally; it was something that was deeply embedded in the DNA of our family. It came from my grandparents to my parents and from my parents to me.”

Vardhaan Puri concluded, saying, “My grandfather came from extremely humble beginnings. His journey took him from Punjab to Himachal Pradesh, then to Delhi, and eventually to Mumbai. They did not have much materially, but what they possessed in abundance was an immense sense of pride in their country. For them, India was not merely the place they lived in; it was a part of who they were.”

For the unversed, Amrish Puri, who appeared in over 450 films, died on January 12, 2005.

--IANS

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