Enkayaar, Bollywood Trade News Network

Why did Amitabh Bachchan chose to play the role of Gabbar Singh than going for encore of Jai or for that matter Hrithik Roshan followed a highly successful KRRISH with anti-hero role in DHOOM-2? Sanjay Dutt did not get the publicity portraying various roles, but KHALNAYAK gave him a new acceptance as an efficient performer? Or for that matter for John Abraham, his most memorable and successful role has so far been in DHOOM where he had played a negative character? Or a Shah Rukh Khan who may have become a phenomenon but whenever he gets introduced on the stage, his dialogue k…k…k… Kiran is what draws out the maximum applause.

It is because portrayal of negative characters provides an opportunity to experiment; with get ups, with stylization and also it explores the hidden facet of an individual which lies in the inert state and which the common man from the audience is able to identify with. Apart from that one gets to share the frame with best females and have the best designer clothes, as was evident in DHOOM-2 where Hrithik Roshan got Aishwarya as also dressed up fashionably.

SHOLAY had created a new trend where for the first time dialogues mouthed by Gabbar Singh in SHOLAY were sold as recorded audio cassettes, a feat which met with such a phenomenal success that it spawned a short lived industry of audio dialogues, as before this, audio cassettes were released only for the songs of the movies.

From the time of KISMET when Ashok Kumar stepped into the role of a negative character and it was a first of its kind, to Hrithik Roshan and Amitabh Bachchan, the innate desire to portray evil has been the cherished dream of every artist. Every student of art has to thank William Shakespeare for that, as through his characterization of Mac Beth he had tried to lift the veil of ignominy from the face of a negative character. Raj Kumar was one of the most successful stars that were a hero who thrived in playing an anti-hero. Such has been the irresistible temptation for playing a negative character that successful super stars of yester years played double role and in the double role one of the character invariably had negative under pinning, Dev Anand and Dharmendra probably being the only exception.

It is altogether a different matter that such experimentations are a rarity than a norm for the industry, as there are a few courageous people who are ready to experiment. However it is an encouraging trend as the present breed of stars is not reconciled to being cast into the mould of a stereotype, but has the courage and the desire to experiment, and with the able support of new breed of directors and story writers this trend is going to increase and it would provide much needed flavour to the dishes being cooked in the kitchen of Bollywood.