Why author Balaji Vittal dedicates his latest book to the on-screen villains who have entertained audiences for decades
Give me this hand Thakur
Mogambo is happy
These lines of baddies of Bollywood are also inscribed in our memories. Pushpa, I hate tears, i have mom, It’s not only difficult, it’s impossible to make sure the don – All dialogues spoken by iconic characters. He may have had to deal with a raw deal on screen, but Kolkata-born author Balaji Vittal gives Bollywood villains their due in the book. Pure Evil – The Bad Men of BollywoodPublished by HarperCollins, scheduled to be released on December 3, 2021.
When the publishers pitched the idea, an excited Balaji signed the contract almost immediately, though it took him some time to bring it out due to the pandemic.
Tracing the journey of villains in Hindi cinema
“The book is a wicked gallery of vile characters who we can’t wait to see the protagonist being beaten to a pulp. But we can’t deny that a big part of the entertainment was due to these villains. He sacrificed himself for the success of the film,” says Balaji, who co-wrote (with Aniruddha Bhattacharjee) SD Burman – The Prince Musician And RD Burman: The Man, The Music, which won the National Award for Best Book on Cinema (2011) and wrote Gaata Rahe Mera Dil: 50 Classic Hindi Movie Songs, which won the MAMI Award for Best Book on Cinema (2015).
In the process of collecting material for bad person…Balaji made a list of movies to watch and signed up for OTT channels and bought dozens of DVDs. “I read about 20 books on related topics apart from archival features, news clippings and write-ups. The hours spent hunting for old magazines at those roadside shops in Daryaganj, Delhi upset my stomach.”
Balaji says he sought out actors, screenwriters and filmmakers who “obviously filled in those villainous characters – and traveled to Mumbai to interview them in person”.
Determined that his book would not be merely a reproduction of published journals, journals, or transcripts of interviews with personalities he had met, Balaji decided to keep the original. bad person… A logical classification of the different genres of villainy and a sound argument on the socio-political triggers behind their emergence.
“The narrative is an output – not a reproduction – of research, topped with my sensibility of villains based on watching decades of Hindi films. I then identified a few iconic villainous characters, each exemplifying the genre. “
Believing in the myth of villains being typecast in Hindi films, Balaji says that he traveled with contemporary circumstances.
“With India emerging as a smuggled gold market in the 1960s, we saw villains like black marketers and food hoarders being replaced with smugglers in films of the mid-1960s. The directors were quick to track the changing scenarios and cast them on screen. ,
He adds, “No doubt there were some stereotypes – like horse-riding Chambal dacoits or British villains who had a lot of Hindi. In balance, some bad guys acted as watersheds in the industry – Shakal the smuggler the procession of memoriesrahul passionate young man Fear And yes, Gabbar the dacoit in cinder,
Female fatales command their share of premium space in the book. they range from pain mother-in-law and willie Daughter in lawBalaji explains that sexy young wives are planning to kill their wealthy husbands.
In his foreword, director Sriram Raghavan explains why villains are attracted to us: “They don’t need to follow any rules. And wouldn’t we all love it? Whereas the protagonist always needs to play by the book. , Going by the recent trends, the villains on the big screen may just get new makeovers. “A lot of thought is being invested in innovative villainous characters like tech-savvy trickster thieves sputter Series where the villain is indistinguishable from the hero,” says Balaji.
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