October 23, 2009 6:08:03 PM IST Enkayaar, Bollywood Trade News Network

When GHAJINI was released it was for the first time in the recent memory that a film was named after the villain. All the viewers were kept wondering till the film hit the silver screen what was GHAJINI all about. It is also one of the smart marketing devices that were adopted whereby the title of the film in itself evoked an enigma about the film.

It was also after a long time that the villain in the Hindi film was given due recognition in the Hindi film, as the villain in the Hindi films in terms of a personality had either receded into the background, or it was the hero himself, who had started enacting the role of the villain himself thereby reducing the role of a villain to ephemeral existence.

As a matter of fact if an introspection of the films released during the last few years where to be made, a thing that would emerge as a stark motif is that the villains no longer exist. If a fault line were to be drawn, then death of Amrish Puri would be the watershed moment in the history of Hindi films, as no replacement has yet been found. Would an Arjun Rampal be considered a replacement for Amrish Puri considering the fact that his performance was talked about for OM SHANTI OM or for that a Suneil Shetty for his role in MAIN HOON NA? Not really, as both of them were in the genre of character actor rather than being a specialist villain.

From the earlier era of Hindi films if a film were to be searched whose title in itself was a mystery through out the film, JEWEL THIEF would fit the bill to perfection as till the end of the film nobody knew who was the JEWEL THIEF and the choice of Ashok Kumar as the villain was another factor that added to the charm of characterization of villain.

If a long drawn out comparison where to be made seeking parallel about this premise, then the role that Pran enacted in JIS DESH MEIN GANGA BEHTI HAI, would also be one of the examples of the film where the villain provided the element of continuity to the film.

May be, owing to these novelties of approach these three films were a resounding success in one way or the other and in the mad scramble to register the titles for the new films, this aspect could also be looked at by the filmmakers.


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