This scene from Amar Akbar Anthony still cracks me up even in thought. Robert is getting Jenny married to Zebisco (if that is how you spell his name) and waiting for the Father to arrive and he says, “Woh father ka bachcha nahi aya,” and Amitabh Bachchan arrives and he says, “Father ko bachcha nahi baap bolte hain my son!” And Robert goes on his knees and kisses the Father’s hand and goes crazy asking for forgiveness. Robert, none other than the great Villain Jeevan, inimitable. I remember Shakal from Shaan with little control on his one eye, twitching and quivering to madness. “Yeh to ek paneer ka tukda hai,” he tells Rakhee. I remember Chaalbaaz more for the Anupam Kher and Rohini Hattangadi combination than anything else. Then there are Gabbar, Mogambo... Where have all these villains gone? Don’t we miss them?
Villains were great enjoyable commercial characters and their demise from our movies is a great loss to our movies. I don’t know if anyone else misses them as much as I do but I have not felt the need to strangle a villain for a long while and that I think is because no one has been able to get under our skin. Films have always been the fight between good and evil and at one time the villain was as important in his portrayal as the hero. Not evil enough is not good enough.
The contribution of Kanhiyalal in Mother India is huge! No Mother India without Nargis Dutt and Sunil Dutt but no Mother India without Lala. His “Radha Rani” still echoes in our ears. We have become “sensitised” and “subtle” and we have given up “melodrama” for “drama.” But have we gone bland? All films don’t require villains but some films are no good with them!
A villain actor rightly told me once, “This Shah Rukh Khan spoilt it for us. He began playing the villain so well that they started taking heroes as villains.” But the hero will never sufficiently make a fool of himself and that too willingly to regale us.
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