Don… An adorable villain
Definition of “Villain” as per dictionary.com:
1. a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.
2. a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.
Let me repeat some of the words mentioned above – Cruel, Malicious, Wicked, Crime, Scoundrel, Evil. Now can you imagine someone who is all these words and still be “adorable”? Isn’t it a dichotomy? How can someone be “evil” and “adorable” at the same time? Well if you want an answer you need to watch Shahrukh Khan in Don 2. Here is a villain whom you would love to love, a villain whom you don’t want to be killed by the protagonist and a villain whom you want to woo the leading lady.
There are some more examples of such villains whom we adore. Lalu Prasad Yadav is a loving character and will always be notwithstanding the fodder scam or the total collapse of law and order in Bihar during his governance. Then there is Charles Sobhraj, a serial killer, known by various names like ‘bikini killer’ and ‘serpent’. Ever wonder why women fell head over heels for him, last being Nihita Biswas, a 23 year old women who got engaged to the 66 year old Sobhraj while she was representing him as a lawyer during his sentence in Nepal. And some more celluloid villains like Gabbar Singh of Sholay. How so ever cruel he was in the film, yet we all seem to enjoy when even kids mouth “kitne aadmi the?” (how many men were there?) or “tera kya hoga kalia?” (What will happen to you, Kalia?). Gabbar Singh is distinguished as being the only villain to endorse a biscuit brand targeted at children. How about Don Corleone, the Godfather? Ruthless, Callous, Brutal, yet over the course of the movie, we all kinda start liking him.
So what is it that makes these villains adorable?
Firstly, they have “charisma” which in most cases is something that one is born with. The smirking Shahrukh with his classic dimpled smile saying “Hmmm… Kinky” forces us to clap or Lalu with his floppy mane speaking in his Bihari accent makes us smile. Not to mention what Charles Sobhraj would be exuding that would make the women swoon.
Another quality that all these characters seem to have in common is that they have a “human side”. Don doesn’t kill Roma even if he knows she is against him, Lalu makes his wife the Chief Minister when he couldn’t or Don Corleone helps the poor to get quick justice and refuses to deal in drugs as it impacts the young generation. Maybe only Gabbar would be an exception to this rule going to the extent of even killing a child (yet ends up advertising the children biscuits, still wonder how?).
Also, all these people / characters “enjoy” and are “genuinely proud” of what they were doing. Don very conceitedly states “Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin namumkin hai” (It is not just difficult to catch Done, it is impossible) or Gabbar boasts “Yahan se pachas pachas kos door gaon mein jab bachcha rota hai to maa kehti hai so ja nahin to Gabbar aa jaayega” (Fifty miles from here when the child doesn’t sleep, the mother tells him to go to sleep else Gabbar will come).
Finally all these characters have the magnetic effect because of the “negativity” they possess. The forbidden fruits always have the tendency to be attractive. Mostly these characters appear to be normal human beings yet bring out their negative shades whenever they want, a characteristics that we all wish to have but are unable to do so due to the social inhibitions of the divide between right and wrong.
What do you think make these villains so adorable?
1. a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.
2. a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.
Let me repeat some of the words mentioned above – Cruel, Malicious, Wicked, Crime, Scoundrel, Evil. Now can you imagine someone who is all these words and still be “adorable”? Isn’t it a dichotomy? How can someone be “evil” and “adorable” at the same time? Well if you want an answer you need to watch Shahrukh Khan in Don 2. Here is a villain whom you would love to love, a villain whom you don’t want to be killed by the protagonist and a villain whom you want to woo the leading lady.
There are some more examples of such villains whom we adore. Lalu Prasad Yadav is a loving character and will always be notwithstanding the fodder scam or the total collapse of law and order in Bihar during his governance. Then there is Charles Sobhraj, a serial killer, known by various names like ‘bikini killer’ and ‘serpent’. Ever wonder why women fell head over heels for him, last being Nihita Biswas, a 23 year old women who got engaged to the 66 year old Sobhraj while she was representing him as a lawyer during his sentence in Nepal. And some more celluloid villains like Gabbar Singh of Sholay. How so ever cruel he was in the film, yet we all seem to enjoy when even kids mouth “kitne aadmi the?” (how many men were there?) or “tera kya hoga kalia?” (What will happen to you, Kalia?). Gabbar Singh is distinguished as being the only villain to endorse a biscuit brand targeted at children. How about Don Corleone, the Godfather? Ruthless, Callous, Brutal, yet over the course of the movie, we all kinda start liking him.
So what is it that makes these villains adorable?
Firstly, they have “charisma” which in most cases is something that one is born with. The smirking Shahrukh with his classic dimpled smile saying “Hmmm… Kinky” forces us to clap or Lalu with his floppy mane speaking in his Bihari accent makes us smile. Not to mention what Charles Sobhraj would be exuding that would make the women swoon.
Another quality that all these characters seem to have in common is that they have a “human side”. Don doesn’t kill Roma even if he knows she is against him, Lalu makes his wife the Chief Minister when he couldn’t or Don Corleone helps the poor to get quick justice and refuses to deal in drugs as it impacts the young generation. Maybe only Gabbar would be an exception to this rule going to the extent of even killing a child (yet ends up advertising the children biscuits, still wonder how?).
Also, all these people / characters “enjoy” and are “genuinely proud” of what they were doing. Don very conceitedly states “Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin namumkin hai” (It is not just difficult to catch Done, it is impossible) or Gabbar boasts “Yahan se pachas pachas kos door gaon mein jab bachcha rota hai to maa kehti hai so ja nahin to Gabbar aa jaayega” (Fifty miles from here when the child doesn’t sleep, the mother tells him to go to sleep else Gabbar will come).
Finally all these characters have the magnetic effect because of the “negativity” they possess. The forbidden fruits always have the tendency to be attractive. Mostly these characters appear to be normal human beings yet bring out their negative shades whenever they want, a characteristics that we all wish to have but are unable to do so due to the social inhibitions of the divide between right and wrong.
What do you think make these villains so adorable?
Good...! In history g8 villains who are still liked include Ravan.
ReplyDeleteIt is like Alcohol... know initially it is bad later people get addicted.. i.e after sometime they are comfortable occasionally to be on bad side.