The evolution of villians in Indian cinema

Indian cinema has a rich history of antagonists who became immensely popular, sometimes more than the protagonist of the movie. The aura and craze of villians in Bollywood is such that their dialogues are still remembered by the audiences. It is shocking to know that even the actors who have played some of the iconic villians in Bollywood are mistaken for their reel identity in their real life.

Indian cinema has evolved over the years and it is constantly evolving in terms of technology, storytelling, acting, direction etc. It is one of the biggest industries in the world that produces thousands of movies in an year. In Indian cinema, larger than life portrayal of thr hero has worked for years and the audience has always embraced it. Similarly, if we talk about antagonists in the Hindi cinema, there are many instances where these villians have larger than kife personalities and they are no less than devil in terms of cruelty. However, one should note the fact that the role of villians has changed over the years and it has a lot to do with the changing landscape of Indian society.

Early Days

Cinema is seen as the reflection society. Since independence, Indian cinema has revolved around the economic conditions and thr dynamics of the country. You must have not noticed that the role of villians in Hindi cinema has changed according to the issues faced by the country. For instance, in 1950s and 60s, when India was struggling to built its economy and agriculture was the primary source of income for mose of the households, saahukars and rich farmers were shown as the main villians. They only had one greed and that is of land and crop. The hero of the film had to fight for his rights and to pay the loans for his family.

After industry

After this phase, the country was going through industrialization and this was a time when owners of the factories and mills were shown as the villians of the Indian film industry. Take the example of movie Kaalia which shown Amjad Khan as a fraud business tycoon who owns a factory. It was also a time when labour unions were fighting for the right laws and their fight against the system was also depicted in movies like Mard and Deewar.

In the 90s, the country was going through an internal conflict when it was fighting against corruption and terrorism and as a result, the villians of the film industry changed to gangsters with underworld connections and corrupted officials.