Prem Chopra says ‘aaj kal toh Shah Rukh, Aamir aur Hrithik jaise hero villain ka role karte hain’: ‘Audiences sympathise with them’

Prem Chopra, who has played a bad guy in numerous films, highlighted how today’s stars are nailing the role of an antagonist and are humane in their portrayal.

Prem Chopra says today's villains have a backstory.

‘Prem Naam Hai Mera, Prem Chopra,’ the iconic line from Bobby became synonymous with veteran actor Prem Chopra, who the audiences love to hate for his portrayal of the bad guy in numerous films, spanning many decades. In a recent interview, the 88-year-old spoke about the absence of a real villain that can scare the audience in today’s films, stating, “Aaj kal toh heroes khud hi villain ka role karte hain.”

Chopra told Zoom, “In pursuit of becoming versatile artistes, today’s leading men are playing all kinds of roles and not limiting themselves to just being quintessential romantic heroes.” The actor, who worked in films like Prem Pujari, Doli, Purab Aur Paschim, Jawab, Kati Patang and Hare Raama Hare Krishna among others, praised the ‘new age’ villains for their performances while also playing other kinds of roles. “They are seen doing comedy as well as negative characters and perfectly acing the role of a villain too. Be it Shah Rukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan and even Aamir Khan, they’ve essayed the roles of villains or bad guys and did such a great job,” he added.

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While Shah Rukh Khan played a negative role in films like Baazigar and Darr, Aamir Khan was seen as an antagonist in a double role in Dhoom 3. Hrithik Roshan’s performance in Dhoom 2, which had grey shades, was loved by the audience.

Prem Chopra also shared why today’s villains are more relatable than those featured in yesteryear Bollywood movies. “The one difference between today’s villains and the ones that are featured in films from my time is that the characters have a backstory which makes them humane and justifies why they are doing what they’re doing. For instance, somebody murdered their parents or something went wrong in their childhood which forced them to turn into a bad guy and become vindictive. For example, Ranbir’s character in Animal,” he said.

The nuanced writing of the characters makes the audience like these villains, he stressed. “The audiences sympathise with them. But in our times, there was no such thing as a backstory. There were mainly three established characters, the heroine, the heroine and the villain and the minute a villain appears onscreen, it means trouble,” he concluded.

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