Root for the hero, pray the villain meets a grisly end — this has been the unspoken rule for viewers of commercial Tamil cinema. But, in the last few years, these lines have blurred. Our antagonists are getting increasingly difficult to resist. Gone are the days when the villain invited looks of disgust. Now, he is as glamorous as the hero. Kollywood is roping in Bollywood actors to play villains. For instance, Akshay Kumar’s monster look in 2.0 has created a buzz on FB. Heart-throb >Neil Nitin Mukesh was deemed worthy to be villain to Vijay’s hero in > Kaththi . Elsewhere, the small town rowdy is now almost cute. Take Assault Sethu in > Jigarthanda . The underworld don puts away his guns to become a superstar. Pondy Pandy, a ruffian in > Naanum Rowdy Dhaan , steals our hearts when he falls in love with a deaf girl. The bad boys never had it so good before with actors, script writers and directors putting them on a pedestal. Here is what they have to say:
Suresh of the SUBHA team who wrote the script of > Thani Oruvan , a racy thriller on a medical scam, says they are inspired by real-life incidents and what they read in the papers.
“It’s always the rich and the powerful who are at the helm of these crimes. I actually sympathise with the gangsters who are paid to kill. It’s just their job.” Thani Oruvan introduced us to Siddharth Abhimanyu, a brilliant scientist who resorts to illegal medical practices. Played by Arvind Swami, this was a rare Tamil villain who was suave and spoke English. “We do not cater to loud antagonists who chase the hero. Thani Oruvan was all about organised crime and we were targeting the system. And, the villain also had to be organised and ingenious.”
As the lines between hero and villain thin, many young actors find themselves lured to the negative characters, as they are more interesting. The fear that they will be typecast no longer holds true for them. Arun Vijay, who played the criminal Victor in > Yennai Arindhaal , says he chose the role because he trusted the director. “I knew Gautam sir’s narration won’t be clichéd. The character sketch had all the elements — friendship, betrayal, revenge — it was a wide canvas for me to work on.”
Arun also loved the unpredictability. “The audience is curious to know what this guy is up to next. His actions were justified because he was betrayed by the hero, a cop who pretended to be his friend.” He was pitted against superstar Ajith. “Initially, I was scared how Ajith sir’s fans will respond. But the audience has changed. I was taken aback to see the rousing welcome for me at a theatre. Everyone was chanting ‘Victor’.”
There has been a wave of noir comedies such > Soodhu Kavvum,Jigarthanda and Naanum Rowdy Dhaan that explore the human side of the small-town goonda . These are directed by young filmmakers who are determined to break clichés.
Director Nalan Kumarasamy says that, in Soodhu Kavvum , Vijay Sethupathi, a low-profile kidnapper obsessed with an imaginary girlfriend, is not the real villain. “For me that is the evil politician, ready to stoop to any level of criminality to keep power in his hands.”
Bobby Simha’s character in Jigarthanda, Assault Sethu , is now iconic. Even though actor Siddharth played the hero, by the end, we were rooting for Sethu, a Madurai don who becomes a film star. Playing the villain was exciting and challenging, says Bobby. He even spent time with real-life goons of Madurai to get a real feel. “A villain’s character allows you a bigger ground to play in, unlike the good guy. You can be as eccentric as you want. You don’t have to please everyone. Karthik Subburaj, the director, kept challenging me to work harder to pull off the 40-year-old gangster role. I kept improvising.” He still gets requests from his fans to do a sequel!
Vijay Sethupathi, who has played the rowdy in Naanum Rowdy Dhaan and Kadhalum Kadanthu Pogum , says he relates to his characters on an emotional level. “They might be from the underworld, but they are also human beings, right? And cinema is all about emotions. There was nothing intentional about choosing these roles. I just related to that character.”
Naanum Rowdy Dhaan , a spoof on the gangster genre featured national award-winning actor and director R. Parthiban as the one who kills the heroine’s father.
“What attracted me to the goon was his innocence and conviction. For me, he is the hero of the film, and Nayanthara and Vijay are the villains.” And, he still got a heroic exit in the film, chuckles Parthiban. “The director gave me the liberty of experimenting with the role. I was very particular that, even if the villain was dying, it should end with one close-up where I am saying something.” Parthiban’s definition of the difference between a hero and a villain comes with an evil laugh: “When a hero winks at a heroine, she winks back. If the villain does the same, she is offended. That’s all.”
