I have known Amrish for a long time. His film career kicked off from my Nishant. He had done Sunil Dutt's Reshma Aur Shera before Nishant though.

We got along very well. I think he was an actor par excellence.

Somehow, I had this gut feeling since the days of Nishant that he would make it big. He featured in virtually every film of mine.

I spoke to him on the phone about three weeks ago. He sounded weak, and I thought it was due to his convalescence from the malarial attack he had a few months back. His death has come as a big shock to me.

In the picture: Naseeruddin Shah, Amrish Puri and Anant Nag in Nishant
Inset: Shyam Benegal