Opening the pages of this book is like entering a cinema hall. Take your seat, get your popcorn, and settle back for an entertaining time – just like the good old movies of old. In fact, one does not even need to read a chapter – just the introduction to the book will have you hooked. I was all ready to recommend the book after reading the introduction, but the pages kept turning, and I literally could not put the volume down until I had finished it.
How can a non-fiction work be so engrossing, you ask? Well, maybe because it is based on the ultimate fiction of our land – the Hindi film! Of course, films, their content, stories, actors and the thrills and chills are entertaining enough, but the author infuses the book with her own zing, with sharp writing and a page-turning style that makes one determined to find and read more books written by her.
The subject of the book being not the hero but the villain of the piece, one expects a certain dash to pervade the pages, and it certainly does. Roshmila Bhattacharya has chosen a baker’s dozen of 13 villains to profile here, starting – as one might perhaps expect – with Pran.
The “gentleman villain” as he is termed had started life as an assistant in a photography studio. As with many screen personalities of those days, it was a series of circumstances combined with luck (bolstered by hard work!) which brought him fame, or rather notoriety.
One question film geeks might ask is, how does playing negative roles impact the actor’s personal life? Well, it’s a valid question and one that Bhattacharya tackles, too. These actors were family men, and while their wives as adults may have been able to handle the near-stigma that was associated with the villain’s role, their children had a different time.
But being intelligent, empathetic as well as creative people, the actors managed to educate their children on the reality of their roles – and how they did this is part of the fascinating tapestry that makes up this book.
Sadashiv Amrapurkar’s daughter Rima, for example, recalls that she was asked all sorts of weird questions after his iconic performance as Maharani in Sadak, such as “Does your father also clap his hands like Maharani?” While her mother was asked if her husband wears a sari in real life too!
The support of their wives was, naturally, invaluable. The women many times faced slurs and ignominy, not to mention suspicion from their relatives. But they stood shoulder to shoulder and were the rock behind the mean, malicious men.
Bhattacharya brings out the family aspect of the actors as well as their individual personalities, including interviews with wives as well as children, which enhances the stories in a way that mere narration would not.
This is a book to be treasured, no less – because it may well mark an era that won’t return. As Bhattacharya says in the introduction, “With mainstream actors experimenting with negative roles, their [villains’] evil omnipotence has been diluted, leaving many of the branded bad men sitting at home.”
For any film buff, this book is a must-have, if only to capture the looming menace personified by the Bad Men of Bollywood.
Title: Bad Men
Author: Roshmila Bhattacharya
Publisher: Rupa
Pages: 248
Price: Rs 395
