'MOST UNDER-RATED VILLAINS OF HINDI CINEMA'

If we think about the best villain in Hindi cinema, image of Amrish Puri nab our mind. Certainly he is. Actually, villainism in Hindi cinema and Amrish Puri are synonymous. Then, comes, legendary Pran, stylish Ajit, wicked Prem Chopra, lovable Bad Man Gulshan Grover, crooked Shakti Kapoor, mischievous Ranjit. Actually, these actors have become brand names of villains in Hindi cinema. It is an irony that Amjad Khan, who portrayed the character of most popular villain of all times in Hindi cinema, Gabbar Singh, is not counted among the best villains of all time in the Hindi cinema. Great actors essaying the negative roles such as Danny Dengzopa, Raza Murad, Sadashiv Amprapurkar, Kiran Kumar, Mohan Joshi, Dalip Tahil, Suresh Oberoi, Ashish Vidyarthi, Mohnish Behl, Govind Namdev have had their share of fame and credit and we surely enjoy watching their performances. Villains such as Mukesh Rishi and Shahbaaz Khan(Chandrakanta fame) were otherwise under-rated villains in Hindi cinema. We have also liked the portrayals of negative characters by actors such as Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Khanna(both of them started their careers as villains), Raj Babbar, Paresh Rawal, Nasseuddin Shah, Om Puri, Anupam Kher, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Tinu Verma, etc.

Today with the changing trends, culture, fashion, content, style of Hindi film-making in Hindi cinema, scope for villains have drifted apart. In earlier times, there used to be a specialist villain, whom we all enjoyed watching. In those times, if songs were the sugary coating, comedy was the topping, then villainism added spice to the movie. Today, we observe  that there is a complete change in the content and setup of Hindi cinema and an actor or actress is performing multifarious tasks and facets. We observe John Abraham/Hrithik Roshan/Aamir Khan portraying negative shades in Dhoom series, or an entertaining villain in Prakash Raj or a promising villain in Arjun Rampal who flatters in between because at the end of the day, he is a hero, or Sonu Sood trying to be a heroic version of villain lagging in a dilemma whether to be a hero or villain, or Jimmy Shergill in his moustache, swaying in Uttar Pradesh accent and trying to be rough and hard, or Nawazuddin Siddiqui or Irfan Khan portraying negative shades or Vidyut Jammawal/Rana Duggubati performing well, but lacking the materialism of a villain or Tahir Raj Bhasin in some movies or Tigmanshu Dhulia and Anurag Kashyap playing villain in each other's movie.

Certainly, through this blog, i have tried to figure out the list of such promising, impactful, great villains of Hindi cinema, who were not rated high otherwise.

10. Dan Dhanoa: The guy with modern, crooked looks simply looked awesome as a villain. The best part about him was his smile, which had a touch of crookedness and wrong conduct with a sadistic approach. His moustache coupled with his looks suited best for a modern villain as well as a dacait.  He was seen for the first time in Mard(1985), then also in Dacait(1987), then also in Shahenshah(1988). His notable roles are of Ganga/Ram Avtar in Tridev(1989) and Majhla Neelu in Vishwatma(1992). He played the role of a drug dealer in Phool aur Kaante(1991) and was also seen in Sanam Bewafa.

9. Mahesh Anand: Another villain with extreme rough and tough structure, a perfect henchman look. From the mid-eighties and through nineties, he was also seen in early 2000's.  His notable flicks are Shahenshah(1988), Toofan(1989), Thanedaar(1990), Jurm(1990), Akeyla(1991), Vishwatma(1992), Khuddar(1994), Krantiveer(1994), Kurukshetra(2000).

8. Salim Ghouse: He simply looked ferocious and dreadful as a villain. In Hindi cinema, he is best known for essaying the role of Brijwa in Koyla(1997). In the movie, 3 performances were commendable. Shankar, played by Shah Rukh Khan, Raja Saheb, played by Amrish Puri and Brijwa, played by him. Other notable flicks of him were Soldier(1998), Maharaja(1998), Indian(2001). His portrayal of Jaswant and DK in Soldier(1998) is also appreciable.

7. Mahavir Shah: In most of the 1990's flicks, we have watched him. He was flawless in delivering his part. Everything right from his style, crookedness, timing, smile, plotting seemed perfect. He was killed in a road accident in 2000. It is unfortunate that we could not see more of him. Still, his roles in Hindi movies will keep echoing forever, whenever we will watch them. His notable roles were in the movies of Tezaab(1988), Aankhein(1990), Thanedaar(1993), Yes Boss(1997), Salakhein(1997), Bade Miyan Chote Miyan(1998), Mehndi(1998), Bichchoo(2000).

6. Jack Goud: He looked a perfect villain.  He had the rough and tough look, exceptional voice, quality, texture and posture of a villain. He had the badass tuning required for a villain. He was notable in the movies of Karan Arjun(1995), Koyla(1997), Lal Baadshah(1998), Vaastav(1999).His performance as the chief of Fracture Gang in Vaastav movie is superb. In Vaastav movie, there are some defining scenes. Apart from some memorable scenes, there is a scene when Raghu and Dedh Futiya resort to crime while defending themselves from the goons, who refused to pay for the Paav-Bhaaji and started misbehaving, irking Raghu and Dedh Futiya to assail them. There is a dreadful scene in which chief of Fracture gang, played by him refuses to keep his promise infront of Mandavli Badshah and says that ' Yeh paise tu rakhle(to Mandavli Baadshah), mujhe yeh donon chahiye(Raghu and Dedh Futiya). 

5. Sayaji Shinde: His role of Bachchu Yadav in Shool(1999) is one of the best villanious characters in Hindi cinema. His acting in the movie was so natural that while watching the movie one goes to the world of lawlessness and feudalism prevailing in Bihar at that time, and one is surely going to hate his character. We expected a lot of powerpacked performances from him, but we didn't get such opportunity. He has surely been that entertaining villain of Hindi cinema. Apart from that, he was seen in Khiladi 420(2000), Aamdani Atthanni Kharcha Rupaiya(2001), Jodi No. 1(2001), Karz the Burden of Truth(2003), Parwana (2003), Calcutta Mail(2003).

4.Tej Sapru: This experienced actor of Hindi film industry could have been a great villain. Although we have seen him playing villainous roles, but he could not get his due. He looked more villainous and impressive than Kiran Kumar, whom we saw a lot during his era. Kiran Kumar looked more natural in character roles than villainous roles. His memorable performances in a negative role include Tridev(1989), Ajooba(1991), Vishwatma(1992), Sangram(1993),Mohra(1994), role of a crooked inspector in Gupt(1997). 

3. Manoj Bajpayee: His inclusion in the list may come as a surprise to many. Although we can't put him in the category of villains, but he certainly has been a very powerful performer in a negative role. His role of gangster Bhikhu Mhatre in Satya is considered to be one of the finest performances in Hindi cinema and this was the role which opened the gate for other method actors like him. The said performance of  Bhikhu Mhatre was so strong that the audience could smell the life of the Mumbai underworld and it overshadowed the lead character of Satya.(The performance of Satya played by Chakraverthy was a disaster, mainly because of his pronunciation and accent, rest, all were superb, ranging from Govind Namdev, Saurabh Shukla, Paresh Rawal, Shefali Shah, Urmila Matondkar, Aditya Srivastava, Makrand Deshpande, etc). Earlier in his career, he played the brief role of a dacait in Bandit Queen(1994). He was enjoyable in Kaun(1999), who was annoying, talkative, who seemed to be suspicious and the culprit. He also acted in crime drama, Ghaath(2000).  He played the role of a supernatural killer in Aks(2001), for which he had won a National Award. He played the role of hitchhike turned psychopath killer in Road(2002). His role of an aggressive politician Virendra Pratap in Rajneeti(2010) was epic. His role was eye-grabbing, enjoyable and he outplayed the other actors in the movie.(Arjun Rampal was also very enjoyable in the movie). Then, his role in Aarakshan(2011) was the saving grace in the movie, although the movie deviated from the core issue in the second half. Then, role of fearless Sardar Khan(who was only scared of his wife) in Gangs of Wasseypur(2012) is over the top. The earthiness, desiness, simplicity in his personality blends in his performances also. He was also seen in Shootout at Wadala(2013), Aarakshan(2013). His role of Professor Siras in Aligarh(2016) is winning accolades all over.

2. Nirmal Pandey: This actor with a rough and virile look, unique hairstyle, sidelock could have been an impactful villain. In his characters, we could smell the badass attitude and outlook. His smile was also deadly. He essayed his characters in a style. It is very unfortunate that the Hindi film industry could not recognize this talent. He had died of heart attack in 2010. He was mostly known for the role of Vikram Mallah in Bandit Queen(1994). He also delivered powerful negative performances in movies as Auzaar(1997), Pyaar Kiya to Darna Kya(1998), Hum Tumpe Marte Hain(1999), Shikaari(2000), Deewangee(2002).

1. Ashutosh Rana: He differs from other villains of Hindi film industry. He has his own style and has created a niche for himself. But, still he has not got his due and credit in Hindi cinema.  He started as an actor with television serials, notably a popular serial called Swabhimaan. At the time when he entered the Hindi film industry, audience started getting plagued by stereotype villains and wanted something different. He came at that moment, created a path of his own, which the audience could not fully accept. Gradually, scope for villains also started drifting away.  His notable grey shade characters are that of the movie Dushman, Sangharsh, for which he had won awards also. He is also known for roles in movies as Zakhm(1998), Jaanwar(1999), Badal(2000), Raaz(2002), Ab Ke Baras(2002), Haasil(2003), Awarapan(2007). It is unfortunate that such a powerful, valiant, impactful actor has only got to play the killer, crooked senior police official and an evil, ruthless Raja Saheb.