Amrita Puri is clear about the two years she spent away from Hindi films: the break was a choice, not a disappearance. In a conversation on The Shaili Chopra Show, the actor said she has no regrets about pausing her film career to complete a master’s at the University of Edinburgh.
What the break cost
Puri told the show that she stepped away after a handful of projects, moved to the UK and was unavailable for two years. The response around her, as she described it, was telling. People assumed she was no longer acting or questioned whether she even lived in India anymore.
It’s a choice and it is true, you can’t have everything in life. You never really know whether it was the best choice or the right choice.
She acknowledged that the pause may have cost her a few film roles. But she framed the decision as part of building confidence and identity, adding that if people forget her in the film business, she will come back and take it from there.
Why the choice stands out
Hindi film careers are often built on momentum, especially for actors who arrive through a supporting part and are expected to convert that visibility into more work. Puri’s own trajectory made the two-year absence unusual. She had debuted in Aisha, moved to Blood Money and then gained wider recognition in Kai Po Che!.
- 2010: Debuted in Aisha with Sonam Kapoor.
- 2012: Appeared in Mahesh Bhatt’s Blood Money.
- 2013: Broke through in Kai Po Che! with Rajkummar Rao and Sushant Singh Rajput.
- Later: Judgementall Hai Kya, Four More Shots Please!, Made in Heaven, Mentalhood and Jeet Ki Zid.
- Latest: IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, directed by Anubhav Sinha.
Her streaming work effectively became the second act. Four More Shots Please! and Made in Heaven put her in front of audiences who may not have followed her early film run, and IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack placed her in an ensemble with Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Dia Mirza and Arvind Swamy.
What to take from it
The useful frame here is not that every actor should leave for a degree, but that a deliberate pause is different from fading out. Puri’s parents initially did not want her to become an actor, and she told the show she knew the profession was unreliable and that she might fail. She chose it anyway, and then chose the classroom again when she wanted it.
For readers who track Hindi cinema closely, the story matters because it shows a working actor treating education and acting as compatible, not as an either-or. The comeback line is not a boast; it is a plan: return, rebuild and let the work speak.
Source: The Times of India
Comments