Prem Chopra, who was one of the most sought after villains in the seventies and eighties, is back on the big screen as the bad guy in Agent Vinod. In the Saif Ali Khan-Kareena Kapoor starrer, the 76-year-old actor essays the role of a villain named Kazaan. "I am playing a bad man after quite some time. I play the don of Morocco. He is not totally evil. But there are lots of shades to this character. I speak the language of Morocco.

"It was difficult but we took help of local people. We sat down with them to learn the language. He speaks in that language only when he meets the local people otherwise the conversation is all in Hindi," Chopra told PTI. Chopra made his debut in Chaudhary Karnail Singh(1962), a Punjabi film set in pre-partition times. The film was a success and won a National Award. Chopra got his break and was soon after directed towards villainous roles in Bollywood.

With the success of his roles in Hindi films such as Woh Kaun Thi (1964), Teesri Manzil (1966), Upkar (1967), Do Raaste (1969), Kati Patang (1970) and Bobby (1973), Chopra's negative image became strong. His dialogue Prem naam hai mera, Prem Chopra (My name is Prem, Prem Chopra) from Bobby became popular. The veteran actor says that times have changed now as heroes are not shying away from playing negative roles.

"Now even heroes are playing bad guys as they feel that negative characters do get established. Nowadays heroes are not shying away from playing negative role, which was a rare thing in our times," Chopra told PTI. "One has to accept change. I have also accepted roles of all kinds, not restricting myself to only negative ones. I have been doing positive and light-hearted roles in films like Rocket Singh, Golmaal 3, Dhamaal," he said. Agent Vinod, a spy thriller directed by Sriram Raghavan, is up for release on March 23.