New Delhi: The first look of Agneepath imprints at least one image in our subconscious that is of none other than bald, colossal and terrorizing Sanjay Dutt. The initial teaser gives the feeling how it would look on a big screen with good projection techniques and aptly done surround sound.
Here is one man whose sheer appearance as villain is competent enough to give us goosebumps. This is when we are not even familiar to his modern avatar of Kancha Cheena. If the director and the actor, of course cooperated by the screenplay, pull this role skillfully, Sanjay Dutt can become one of the names in those lists of legendary villains.
Although the process had started in late 80's but the Hindi film industry was more or less done with traditional villains till the inception of the new millennium. The conventional bad guy was replaced by grey characters, who were much more sophisticated and suave in manners than their predecessors.
In these times, villains are not quintessential rogues, but a person with strong attachment to his or her purpose. The modern baddies mean business, and are only concerned with their profits. They are as educated as the protagonists, and they don't resort to violence unless and until it's really necessary.
Since, Jeevan and Kailash Pandey, remember the man with the pet dialogue 'arre paise kaise chukaogi Radha rani'(How will you pay the money Radha rani), the Hindi film industry has seen the emergence of terrific bad men.
Be it Amjad Khan or be it Pran or be it the classy Ajeet, all of them had primarily focused on creating an aura around them which was in turn helpful in getting their business done in a smooth fashion. Their contemporaries such as Prem Nath, Ranjeet, Kadar Khan and Prem Chopra basically portrayed characters which were parasitic in nature and who wanted to be fed on the expense of other miserable characters, until the hero demolished their systems. These were the people who used to hire musclemen to protect their drug or smuggling businesses. Being lecherous was one flaw that invariably made them the point of vengeance.
However, the hero continued to dominate the scene as the morally upright character. Despite some great villainous performances, the screen belonged to the heroes. They did not feel bothered in threatening the villains even in their dens.
Amrish Puri changed the scenario. Puri managed to create an uncanny terror as he got cheap thrills in suppressing others at will. The question of morality lost all sense in his context. Unlike the previous villains, Puri was not ready to change even in the climax. He was the most ideal character to shoot on hero's back.
The immense popularity of Amrish Puri invoked a lot of directors to model their villains on the same line. The tradition fetched success till early 80's. Afterwards the situation changed.
Naseeruddin Shah in Mirch Masala, Sadashiv in Ardh Satya, Paresh Rawal in Naam along with some others tried to break the influential impact of Amrish Puri on the villainous roles but the success of Gulshan Grover in Ram Lakhan and Kiran Kumar in Tezaab restored the image of passionate and cynical criminals. They terrorized the audiences up to some extent as they had a prominent motive of satisfying their own ego sets without caring much about the results.
Nana Patekar in Parinda, and Denny in Agneepath showed the glimpses of alternate line of characterization which was further consolidated via films like Angaar, Mohra, and Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin.
When Sadashiv Amrapurkar played Maharani in Sadak, the platform was already set for experimentation. The new age villains had started to take over. Rahul Bose in Takshak, Milind Gunaji in Virasat, Ashish Vidyarthi in Major Saab showcased different sorts of villains, who were clever strategists. They had not remained outdated in their manners.
The real transformation happened after 1995, when the demarcation between the hero and the villain vanished. Shahrukh Khan in Baazigar, Darr and Anzaam, Manoj Bajpai in Satya, Govinda in Shikari established the anti-hero.
Further, Ashutosh Rana in Dushman, Ajay Devgn in Deewangee, Irfan in Haasil, Abhishek Bachchan in Yuva and Amir Khan in 1947 Earth became the central character despite being the villains.
John Abraham, Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan in Dhoom, Dhoom 2 and Ek Haseena Thi respectively represented popular culture and its nuances by being cool and trendy. They got more poster space than the so called 'good guy' or the hero. Villain had become hero till this point.
However, the occasional surfacing of villains with old dirty tricks kept happening. Sayaji Shinde in Shool, Mukesh Tiwari in China Gate, Nana Patekar in Shakti definitely terrorized us but they were nowhere close to the terror of Amrish Puri or Gulshan Grover. They produced revulsion more than the fear.
On a whole, there is not much left in the name of traditional fearsome villain in the Hindi film industry till 2011, but then Sanjay Dutt has surfaced with all the raw illicit expression on his face. This might signal the return of good old fashioned villain, as the audiences are experiencing the same old sudden jolt of horror in their hearts. As per the typical Bollywood tradition, any hit character is bound to be repeated in countless number of films, thus the success of Dutt can bring back the villain of 70's in vogue.
Dutt's success might prove a blessing for other elderly actors also who are not accepted as hero anymore. They would surely like to break the stereotypes and establish themselves as prominent characters, irrespective of the fact that whether it is of hero or of the villain.
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