Ronit Roy has portrayed the character of a cynical police officer in Anthony D'Souza's 'Boss', and he has left a mark in the role. The bad guy stole the limelight with his subtle performance in the film. Lately, the Hindi film industry has started giving a lot of emphasis on the bad guy. Probably, the writers have realised that in order to make the hero powerful they need to give more screen space and swagger to the villains. Bollywood has a long tradition of villains with great screen presence but apart from Amrish Puri, there haven't been many character artists who can pull the audiences towards the cinema halls. However, the focus is now shifting back to the villains.
Almost every established actor is ready to try his or her hands at roles with grey shades, and this trend is quite visible. Irrfan has emerged as a fantastic actor through such roles. Even now, when he can select only positive roles, he is doing films like 'Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns'. After all, who can forget his roles in 'Maqbool' and 'Haasil'? Similarly, Rishi Kapoor is more versatile now then his younger days. From 'Agneepath' to 'D Day', he is doing all sorts of experiments with his characters. Jimmy Shergill changed his entire image through villainous roles.
Taking a cue from his contemporaries, John Abraham did a remarkable job in 'Shootout At Wadala'. Hie earlier film 'Force' gave a similar chance to Vidyut Jamwal. Heroines such as Konkona Sen Sharma and Huma Qureshi stunned the viewers with their devilish acts in 'Ek Thi Daayan'. Manoj Bajpayee and Nawazuddin Siddiqui have made a place in the film world via roles that were nowhere close to conventional Bollywood hero roles. This trend is here to stay as forthcoming films like 'Bullett Raja' and 'R...Rajkumar' are also going to present established heroes in negative roles. What Amitabh Bachchan started in late 1970s is being followed by today's actors. And, amidst all this, the villain has become the new hero in Bollywood.
