You may not seem to get enough of Ranbir Kapoor’s violent machismo in Animal, but Shah Rukh Khan did all of it and more 30 years earlier..
Hindi cinema’s OG heartthrob who romanced on screen an entire nation like there was no tomorrow and still makes men rapturous and women go weak in the knees, started his trailblazing career as an anti-hero. He was Baazigar’s Vicky Malhotra, Darr’s Rahul Mehra, and Anjaam’s Vijay Agnihotri before he became Simran’s Raj in the 1995 blockbuster Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and forever changed how we saw, experienced, and desired love.
First came Abbas-Mustan’s romantic thriller Baazigar (1993), in which fuelled by vendetta, Khan’s protagonist takes on a false identity and goes on a killing spree to make right the many wrongs inflicted on his family. Soon Yash Chopra’s Darr (1993) followed, in which he plays an unrequited lover struggling with his mental health who would stop at nothing to get his beloved. Also starring Juhi Chawla and Sunny Deol in lead roles, the film cemented Khan’s position as a fascinating actor who could play the spectrum’s two extremes with remarkable ingenuity.
Then released Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1994), a breezy coming-of-age romcom that is now widely considered a cult classic, and Anjaam (1994), a stomach-churningly gory, obsessive thriller, which also starred Madhuri Dixit. In both these films, Khan played with jaw-dropping sincerity layered, flawed characters that no other leading man at the time would dare consider.
In the 30 years between Darr and Animal, several heroes have become villains. Each’s story and subtext is as unique as the socio-cultural climate in which they turned dark. Take Sanjay Dutt, for instance. The son of Hindi cinema titans Nargis and Sunil Dutt, he made his debut as a romantic lead in Rocky (1981). But soon, his existential spiral started to overshadow his on-screen narrative and before he could establish himself as an indisputable leading man, he started to get films such as Khalnayak (1993) that tried to milk the most of his controversial life.
Sure, Dutt has played hero consistently all through his 40-year-long prolific career. But he’s seen no dearth of negative roles either. He has been and continues to be Bollywood’s favorite anti-hero. Films such as Daag: The Fire (1999), Vaastav (1999), Musafir (2004), Shabd (2005), Agneepath (2012), Panipat (2019), KGF Chapter 2 (2022), and Shamshera (2022) stand as a testament to the actor’s versatility and how filmmakers love to blur the boundaries that separate reel from real.
Then there’s the curious case of Rishi Kapoor. The blue-blooded scion of Bollywood’s first family, he was the undisputed king of on-screen romance for over 25 years. He was the Hugh Grant of Hindi films—precious, pretty, predictable. But that was until he decided to turn an entirely new leaf in the second phase of his career, surprising the audience with his portrayal of the murderous professor in Ekta Kapoor’s Kucch Toh Hai (2003) and the menacing Rauf Lala in Karan Malhotra’s Agneepath (2012). Along with several memorable character roles in films such as Fanaa (2006), Kapoor & Sons (2016), and Mulk (2018), he continued to play the baddie in movies such as Aurangzeb (2013) and D Day (2013).
How can we discuss heroes turning evil and not mention Bobby Deol? He is having quite a moment right now. The smoldering chocolate boy of the 90s has returned with all guns blazing. Playing villain with a greedy vengeance, he is Lord Bobby now. What started with the bumper success of Prakash Jha’s web series Aashram (2020- ) in which he plays the dubious self-styled godman Baba Nirala, turned concrete with Love Hostel (2022), and now has been etched in stone with Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal. So much so that Deol is slated to play Aurangzeb in Krish Jagarlamudi’s upcoming Telugu period action-adventure Hari Hara Veera Mallu.
Rajkummar Rao deserves a special mention too. Though he’s yet to achieve the stardom that he deserves, his first few choices closely resemble SRK’s. He made his Hindi film debut with Love, Sex Aur Dhokha (2010) and continued playing murky, questionable people in Ragini MMS (2011), Queen (2013), Humaari Adhuri Kahani (2015), and Omerta (2017).
Finally, there’s Ranbir Kapoor, inarguably the finest actor working today. Animal’s becoming his highest-grossing film yet has opened exciting new vistas for him. Too old to play a lover boy now, he’d declared his fatigue for romantic comedies earlier this year ahead of Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar’s release. A man with a heightened sensitivity for complex, conflicted characters, would he then go the Shahid Kapoor way? Only time will tell.
