MUMBAI: Anupam Kher, who was recently seen in The Accidental Prime Minister, revealed that he was the first choice for the iconic villainous role of Mogambo in Shekhar Kapur’s directorial debut, Mr India (1987).

Late actor Amrish Puri had played the role of Mogambo in the film. On the 87th birth anniversary of the late actor, Anupam Kher said to Hindustan Times, “Amrish Puriji was a really good friend of mine. It feels really sad to talk about your friends who are no more in this world. He was a remarkable actor.”

On Saturday, Google celebrated the life legacy of Amrish Puri. They portrayed the iconic roles he played of Mogambo in Mr India and Chaudhary Baldev Singh in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.

Anupam Kher further told the daily, “In Mr India, Mogambo's role was offered to me before him but after one or two months, makers of that film replaced me with Amrish Puriji. 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 Amrishji in their film.”

Speaking about Anupam Kher’s upcoming project, he will be seen in the Ashok Nanda film One Day: Justice Delivered. The film is set release on 5 July 2019.