A WALK THROUGH THE BOLLYWOOD ROGUES GALLERY
The antagonist is as crucial a character on screen as the protagonist, and Balaji Vittal has dissected the various types of villains who have sent chills down our spine in Hindi cinema through the ages
Sholay (1975): Gabbar chops off Thakur’s arms with a sword in each hand. Karz (1980): Kamini murders her husband by ramming him repeatedly with a jeep. Mr. India (1987): Mogambo kills hundreds of innocent citizens. Pure Evil — The Bad Men of Bollywood is a walk through the gallery of Bollywood villains, in which all genres of villainy between 1929 and 2021 are showcased and discussed. Balaji
Vittal examines in delicious detail the misdeeds of the gangster, the sly relative, the corrupt policeman, the psychopathic killer...
A rollercoaster ride, looking at the changing face of the Hindi film villain, Pure Evil is not a collection of biographies of the actors who played those roles. Nor is it a collection of essays on those films. “Pure Evil is a story book about the various villain characters that we have seen on screen in the last 90 years — a panoramic view of Bollywood villainy and the changing colours and nuances thereof. For example, how the gang of 8-10 goons in the 1950s engaged in food grain hoarding in Footpath
(1953) and how black-marketing in Kala Bazar morphed into internationally networked organizations smuggling antiques and drugs in films like Yaadon ki Baraat
(1973) and Charas
(1976). Or how the upright politicians of the
1950s went from being ideological fanatics in Baharon ke Sapne (1968) to corrupt people in Kissa Kursi Ka
(1977) to staffing a Ministry with criminals, adulterators and rowdy sheeters in Inquilaab
(1984). And of course, Pure Evil is garnished with rare trivia and anecdotes that I gathered painstakingly during my lengthy research, including exclusive interviews with over 40 leading Bollywood personalities,” says the author.
The idea of this book was proposed by Harper Collins a few years ago. “It sounded so exciting that I signed the contract immediately. But I was already co-authoring two other books for Harper Collins and hence, could not really get into Pure Evil full throttle. Of course, I kept gathering research material for the book all the while. From 2015 onwards, I plunged headlong into writing Pure Evil,” says Vittal.
In a biography of a famous personality, there are defined start and end points of that person’s career. And these mark out the playing area for the biographer. “While writing Pure Evil, for a long time I struggled to build a story structure. That was my first big challenge. Then, on the basis of some useful advice by friends, I segmented the landscape of villainy in the last 90 years into various categories — foreigner villains, dacoits, thugs, smugglers, Mumbai mafia, corrupt politicians, corrupt policemen, psychotics, serial killers, bigots, cheating relatives/friends etc. And then I had to select villain characters that exemplified each of these categories and flesh out their villainy,” says Vittal. “And here lay my next set of challenges. Was the segmentation comprehensive? Were the examples I chose good ones of that type of villainy? Would my reader be convinced? Remember, villainy also has a ‘point-of-view’ aspect. I may see Ajay in Baazigar as a villain but someone else may see him as a hero rightfully seeking revenge against Madan Chopra. My arguments needed to be logical.”
Talking about the evolution of villains in Bollywood, he says, “A truth that has stayed constant down the ages is — the villain is always wealthy and influential. And his villainy stems from this sense of superiority over others who are less privileged than he is. With this underpinning principle, let us trace a couple of trends in the evolution of villainy in Bollywood.”
A villain may be an enemy of an individual, an enemy of society or an enemy of the nation — and the evolution of each of these has been a bit like that of the Coronavirus — discovering newer ways of infecting the protagonist with time.
Villains in Bollywood have mirrored either the goings-on in our society (Haqeekat came post the Sino-Indian war of 1962) or the trends in Hollywood (Dharmatma took direct inspiration from the 1973 classic The Godfather). The emergence and development of each category of villains can be traced back to onthe-ground realities.
Historically, scripts have been biased in favour of the protagonist — the hero was usually a talented musician or an ace sportsman and the antagonist stood no chance against him. But in the new millennium, things changed. The hero and the villain match each in talent.
Vittal says he enjoyed writing every word of Pure Evil. So, every chapter is his favourite. “But I thought the tailpiece on ‘Crime and Punishment’ was a good climax to the book because it explores the tenets of Karma and reiterates what I said in t h e Introduction— ‘The following chapters do not purport to glorify the misdeeds…’. Evil is evil and evildoers will meet
their nemesis.”
INTERESTING ANECDOTES.
The interviews with Bollywood personalities made for memorable moments. What was planned as a 30-min interview with Danny Denzongpa at his bungalow became a three-hour one, over multiple cups of tea, with authentic Sikkim-made honey and lunch. What a superb host he is! I did the interview with Kay Kay Menon by a poolside at 9.30 pm, with both of us standing up and me balancing the laptop on my left arm and holding the recording device in my other hand.
THE IDEA OF THIS BOOK WAS PROPOSED BY HARPER COLLINS A FEW YEARS AGO. “IT SOUNDED SO EXCITING THAT I SIGNED THE CONTRACT IMMEDIATELY.”