I'm sure nobody called Mohit Malik a bandar. But Samrat the character is a lot less more than that. Yes, Mohit Malik is a terrific actor, but that doesn't make Samrat a hero from any angle, unless we are changing the definitions of hero and villain. Yes of course, in great literature, sometimes the lines between hero and villain are blurred, as in
Macbeth, but guess what? Macbeth is a tragic hero, and he falls and there is no redemption for him and his head is cut off in the end and he gets to be punished for his wrongs and not to romance the heroine.
A hero, however dark- needs to have certain qualities that make him heroic. Macbeth was a great soldier, he saved his country from an invasion, he was loyal to his king till he allowed his dark side to overpower him. And although blinded by ambition, he had tremendous understanding of the follies and meaningless of it all.
Tell me, what are Samrat's qualities? That he has been insulting his father-in-law, his sister-in-law, his wife from the day of his marriage? That he makes his own sister's husband romance his wife's sister to make her look bad? That he sets up a guy to stalk his own wife to make her look bad? That when caught he beats her with his belt and his only regret is he didn't make her completely bedridden? That he has been cheating her forever?
Suppose there was a show where a good-looking woman slept with one man after another- you know what you would call her? A vamp. A b***h. You would not say OMG she is so hot so let her turn into a loving wife overnight and let the hero take her back.
Samrat is a bad son, a bad brother, a bad husband, a bad father. He is even bad at his work- the presentations that win him contracts are made by his employees. And if he had any brains or ability to judge people, he wouldn't trust Amrit. So clearly, no business acumen. Only thing in his favour- he has been born into a rich family where he has inherited the family business, out of which he has duly kicked out his hard-working brother.
Let me give you another example. In the movie Skyfall, Javier Bardem was hot, sexy and a scene-stealing terrific actor. But he was still a villain. Closer home, SRK might have been the show-stealer in Darr, but once again, he was the villain and not the hero.
So the point is, give Mohit Malik an acting award- everybody agrees he is terrific, but just because he is good-looking does not mean he can be redeemed into a hero. He is not a hero. He is a villain who still has not realized his mistakes nor repented for them.
It is not romantic to be insulted and cheated by one's spouse. It is not hot to be beaten black and blue. And it is absurd and gross to show a woman forgetting years of abuse (especially within a week of that beating) to be all lovey-dovey with such a man because of a surprise birthday party.
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