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Article
By : Ramaa
Location
: Chennai
E-Mail
Id : behindw@behindwoods.com
The word villain is derived from ‘vile’
which means crooked in Latin. No wonder the title sits
pretty on guys who derive pleasure by causing troubles
to good folks in our film stories. If we analyze the
importance of villains in our movies, we would find
that there would be no spice in the story but for the
bad guys. Essentially they provide the evil element
over which the goodness of the hero prevails. Villains
have been around since mythical times. Our legends are
full of asuras or devils over whom the God-fearing won
amidst seemingly insurmountable hurdles. But, it is
in movies that the baddies got a human face. They represented
the gray shades in human personality which lurks among
the apparently pleasant visages. In early movies, the
villain was more a scheming prince or army general lusting
for the buxom princess or the |
king’s
empire. They brought to fore the traits of greed, jealousy,
lust and indulgence. While the heroes who outsmarted
them were high in the popularity stakes, the villains
held their own and were much appreciated. O.A.K. Thevar,
P.S. Veerappa, S.V. Ramadas, Nambiar, Ranjit and many
others were the dreaded men of that generation. P.S.
Veerappa’s unique style of dialogue delivery and
Nambiar’s remarkably mobile face are unforgettable
vignettes of movie magic. Remember the Sabash, sariyana
potti scene in Vanchikkottai valiban? As movies veered
towards contemporary social milieu, villains changed
from kings to ordinary mortals. M.R. Radha springs to
mind immediately for being the glib-tongued scene stealer
in several movies of the new era in films. Remember
the lines in which he teases Tamilians for using steam
to make idlis while the West was using it to run trains
and ships?His combination |
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of comedy with villainy
gave
us several memorable films. In all these films, the
villains either repented their acts or were made to
face the law. Therefore, there was no excessive use
of physical violence. Then, MGR happened. He was the
first hero to use action consistently in the modern
context and could be called the forerunner of fight
scenes in movies. After MGR, we must say that action
or fights as they are popularly called have had a downward
slide in the sense that they have become an important
formula element with little or no relevance to the soul
of the story. On several instances, they are indeed
predictable. There are several villains of the post-modern
era like Satyaraj, Anandraj, Kitty, Sarathkumar and
why our own superstar Rajinikanth who started out as
a villain. But for Kitty and Anandraj, others discarded
the villain image to become the top heroes. This is
not because playing the villain is harder, but who doesn’t
like to be a popular hero? While the villains were the
bad guys on the screen they were fine human beings and
thorough gentlemen off it. P.S. Veerappa made that wonderful
film, Aandavan kattalai and Nambiar is a teetotaler
and staunch devotee of Lord Ayyappa of Sabarimala.
In
the emerging scenario of the new century, traditional
villainy is still popular but the scriptwriters and
directors need to impart some sophistication to the
figure. There should be less use of brawn and more of
brains in overcoming the thugs. Of course, James Bond
style or Hollywood nuclear warfare dons are ruled out
in Tamil cinema. But, we could do with some sane portrayal
of baddies rather than the run-of-the-mill, tobacco-chewing,
cigarette puffing or alcohol.
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