What’s Bollywood without its villains?

There can be no Bollywood movie without a villain, believes writer Balaji Vittal. The villain could be a father who stands in the way of his daughter’s true love, or a stepmother who treats you like nothing, but no movie is complete without a villain. Even if the villain is just someone who annoys the protagonists, that works.

It was six years of deep research by Vittal, hundreds of interviews with actors, filmmakers, and directors; watching over 300 films and understanding the socio-economic and political background of each of those movies that shaped up as ‘Pure Evil: The Bad Men of Bollywood’.

The only difficulty he faced was convincing himself which villain deserved to be slotted in which category, says the writer. “My thought process had to grow and evolve with me as I wrote the book,” says Vittal.

Vittal has tried to distinguish between three kinds of villains-- those who betray individuals, those who betray society and those who betray the nation.

For instance, the foreigners who smuggle drugs or other things are villains of the society, but the villains in Naam Shabana and Baby are villains of the nation. The last kind are the individual villains who might be cheating partners or relatives.

What’s interesting, Vittal notes, is how a villain may not always be a person, it may also be a culture. For a lot of people, the only culture acceptable and ‘moral’ is that of India. On the other hand, Westernisation is thought to corrupt the minds of people. So, if a girl wears western clothes, she’s thought to be morally corrupt.

Vittal feels that while regulation may be important, what isn’t right is the public vigilantism towards certain films, like Mangal Pandey- The Rising and Padmaavat. Filmmakers are not attempting slander against any community when they make a film, they’re just portraying a different narrative, he insitst.

But do these films ever have an effect on the bigger picture? The writer doesn’t think so. He believes that a movie is an effect of what’s happening, and not the cause of it. However, he does think that where films can make an impact is through spreading awareness.

In his book Vittal talks about how villains use their strength, men use their money, power or property, while women use their sexuality and/or talents to lure men. But isn’t that a little diminishing? Reducing a woman to her sexuality, as if that’s all a female villain is capable of ?

Vittal doesn’t feel so. “Whoever the villain may be is the villain because of their actions, not because of their gender.” He adds that there are many female characters who are designated as villains because they try to usurp money or attempt to end someone’s marriage.

Ask him why then his book is called ‘The Bad Men of Bollywood’, and he smiles and says that he has been impartial, portraying a lot many female villains as well. “It would just have been a long title,” says he.

Vittal also draws a distinction between antagonists and villains. For instance, Bipasha Basu’s character in Jism is an antagonist because she is a morally grey and questionable character, but not a villain because she doesn’t violate the law.

Surprisingly, Vittal has clubbed two villains, very different from each other together in his book. One is Brigadier Rudra Pratap Singh from Shaurya who commits human rights violations and atrocities. The other is Virus from 3 Idiots. The writer justifies this, saying, “Directly or indirectly, Virus was responsible for the death of two people, and pushing a third to attempt death by suicide. These are all signs of being a megalomaniac.”

Bollywood has a lot of entertaining and watchable villains. Vittal thinks some of them are entertaining because of their loudness, some because of their quirks, some you laugh at, some who are portrayed without any filters, some who are so dark you shudder to look at them, and some so ordinary they could hide in broad daylight, the scariest kind.

But of course, there are other factors at play too in making or breaking a villain. Vittal emphasises the impact that the villain’s costumes have on the audience. For instance, Mogambo’s costume symbolised his grandiose plan of villainy. These costumes are often also used to exert the villain’s authority over the other characters, just an attempt to show they are more wealthy, more powerful and more privileged.

When asked to summarise his book, Vittal says, “It’s like a walk through the rogues gallery.” The writer says that it is a storybook that will tell you about the most interesting and bizarre villains that Bollywood has seen. It has a lot of anecdotes and backstories about the characters and actors.

(This story was first published in National Herald on Sunday)