Reversing the roles!

When the legendary Ashok Kumar played an Anti-hero in his film KISMAT, long back it raised a few eyebrows but the flick was a monstrous hit. He repeated himself as a bad guy in Vijay Anand's JEWEL THIEF, a crime caper so brilliantly executed. The stylish Vinod Khanna and the striking Shatrughan Sinha started their acting career playing the baddies and later on graduated to become the lead heroes. Amitabh Bachchan played a negative role in the suspenseful PARWANA at the onset of his career. Not many of them know, but even the timeless Romantic idol Rajesh Khanna had tried his hand at portraying a negative lead sometime in the 70's. The movie titled RED ROSE had him essaying the role of a serial killer but the movie was ultimately banned due to protests from the public sections. The lanky and decently talented Aditya Panscholi in SAILAAB, played a character hell-bent on seeking revenge on his lady love (played by Madhuri Dixit). The role had grey shades to it and Aditya was impressive in the film. Then it was Sanjay Dutt's turn to take up the challenge and he did that with lan in Feroz Khan's YALGAAR. The role went unnoticed as the film bombed at the box-office.

But the Anti-hero fascia was not gaining enough momentum in Bollywood till the time Shahrukh Khan came into the picture. SRK's BAAZIGAR and DARR caught the public in a whirl of astonishment and King Khan just raced away on the path of super stardom. Shahrukh's further attempt at playing the bad boy in Rahul Rawail's ANJAAM didn't materialize as the movie flopped but his last crack at it in JOSH as the nudging leader of his group of hooligans proved to be propitious. Shahrukh in the truest of the sense established the anti-hero impetus in Bollywood and in the wake of time the others tried taking a stab at the villainous mood. Manoj Vajpayee's Bhiku Mhatre in SATYA had a rim of grey to him and the movie's resounding triumph made him an overnight star. He reprised himself as a wicked gangster in ROAD but this time he had a bleak luck as the movie crumbled. Sanjay Dutt was back to doing the evil act in JUNG and last year's MUSAFIR, both directed by Sanjay Gupta. Amitabh was just amazing in his performances as the demented person in AANKHEN and AKS. Following in his dad's footsteps, Abhishek went on to demonstrate his dreadful side in Mani Ratnam's YUVA, which was a saving grace for Bachchan Jr's largely declining career graph.

Sanjay Gupta's latest film ZINDA shows John Abraham as a dissipated businessman with evil aspirations. He had earlier played a dissolute biker in the super hit DHOOM. See what Dhoom did to his career? Something similar happened to Saif Ali Khan when he received big applause for his role as a depraved drug-dealer tantalizing Urmila in EK HASINA THI. Ajay Devgan made a lasting brunt as a bad guy in RK Santoshi's KHAKEE and Soham Shah's KAAL. Jackie Shroff's cold glare as the feared terrorist in MISSION KASHMIR sent shivers down one's spine. The macho Suniel Shetty was the dreaded terrorist in Farah Khan's directorial flick MAIN HOON NAA and the recent movie EK AJNABEE had the suave Arjun Rampal flexed him as a baddie. All these stars have gained a lot of significance in the industry and managed to change the public's out-look toward them by not sticking to a stereo-type and exploring themselves as actors. Their rank in the business has been cemented as they have wilted their versatility on view and have become the front-runners off late. The graceful Hrithik Roshan is now all set to do his bit in DHOOM 2 and the buzz is that Kunal Kohli's next FANAA will see Aamir Khan in a grey role of a terrorist. FANAA marks the return of the immensely talented Kajol after a long hiatus.

So one can conclude that the face of Indian cinema is indeed changing. The actors are now daring to walk on the unchartered path and rising up to more and more unusual parts. Earlier the scenario was much different with the stars not willing to metamorphosize and thereby getting glued to their respective images. It's a healthy sign that they have started to take acting in the right perception by deciding to go adventurous. Acting is about playing characters and fleshing out their mannerisms and a good actor will always strive to bag roles that give justice to his potential; then whether the character is positive or negative is irrelevant. This will also be a much needed respite from those over the top, clichd and most of the times loud villains that was Bollywood speciality some time ago. But now the transition is taking place and for the better. Such multi-faceted characters give a better insight and try to probe much incisively into human nature and hence movie-wise the scope for the on-screen conflict and action just increases. Remember Anthony Hopkins in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, Kevin Spacey in SEVEN or more lately TOM CRUISE in COLLATERAL. Hope someday, Bollywood would be able to retort and come up with such memorable characters that would leave a lasting impact on generations of moviegoers!