'Villains have vanished from Hindi cinema'

Mumbai: The days of the "specialised" Hindi film villain, who was portrayed as the epitome of evil, is over ever since storytelling underwent a major change in the last decade, says the Bad Man of Bollywood Gulshan Grover. Now films have no clear black and white demarcations.

The typical villains have physically disappeared from the scripts. As the industry is changing and more of comedy and drama films are coming up, there are very few such roles left," Gulshan told reporters on phone from Mumbai.

"Actors who are not doing well as heroes are moving on to doing negative characters and filmmakers are happy. But I don`t think there is anything wrong in this. I would say specialised villains will end with me," he added.

The actor started his Bollywood career in 1980 with "Hum Paanch". Some of his best remembered negative roles were in "Sohni Mahiwal", "Ram Lakhan", "Shola Aur Shabnam" and "Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi". He has also been a part of Hollywood movies like "Jungle Book 2" and "Panic".

Gulshan was named the `Bad Man` of Bollywood due to the negative character he portrays on screen. The other well-known villains of his time are Kader Khan, who later became a character actor, Ranjeet, Shakti Kapoor, Amjad Khan and Kiran Kumar, who too became a character actor.

And Gulshan is happy with the evil tag.

"I have created this tag for myself and I am happy with it. I take pride in being called one," he said.

"But I am an actor. Whenever I have been given other opportunities I have been equally accepted," said the 55-year-old who will now be seen in a positive role as a Rajasthani dhaba owner in "I Am Kalam".

The forthcoming movie directed by Nila Madhab Panda tells the story of a young slum boy who is inspired by former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. It has been produced by Smile Foundation, an NGO which works for under-priviledged children.

The film has been screened at various international film festivals like Giffoni International Film Festival, Italy, BFI Times London Film Festival, New York International Children Film Festival and is set to hit the screens Aug 5.

"I play a Rajasthani dhaba owner. When they (Smile) came to me with a script, I was reluctant as to how a foundation could make a film," said Gulshan.

"But after going through the script and understanding their motive behind making the film I agreed to be a part of it. Their motive is not to make profits but to promote their cause," he added.

"And the kind of response that the film has got at the international platform is just superb," he said.

After being in the industry for three decades, the actor said he has become more choosy about his work.

"I have become choosy because I put in so much effort in my work and I don`t want it to get diluted. I won`t do rubbish work onscreen," he added.