Javed Akhtar had once said that one could write the socio-economic history of India by looking at the journey of villains in Hindi films.
The ‘Angry Young Man’ created by Akhtar and his writing partner, Salim Khan, might have been inspired by characters from Mother India (1957) or Ganga Jumna (1961), but this hero was different from the trend and captured the zeitgeist. In films such as Zanjeer (1973), Deewar (1975) and Trishul (1978), the hero took on the system, the society, and a handful of the rich who decide the fate of others, respectively.
It was the very real villain that made the hero of these films more convincing.
Although today the villain is believed to be more authentic even in the typical masala film, popular movies across most Indian languages have the same usual suspects when it comes to the antagonist.
If life as we knew it has undergone a transformation in the wake of Covid-19, how much would the post-coronavirus pandemic reality impact the narrative of our popular films?
The ability to reflect the society truly is among the oft-repeated claims of mainstream films in India across different languages.
There has been substantial talk about how the entertainment business has drastically reshaped in response to the unfolding global health crisis.
Initially, the speculation was that all the changes were temporary measures and the response centred on rescheduling the release dates.
A few weeks later, the fear that cinema halls might not operate to full capacity any time soon saw the trade start exploring other forms of distribution other than the traditional theatrical release.
Beyond trade operations or logistics, there has not been a deep dive into how the coronavirus pandemic might alter the thematic quotient of films.
In a real world where the so-called ‘reel’ villains—namely the politician, the police, government and health officials and even industrialists—have emerged as heroes, popular films in India might have to re-evaluate many things.
In the last few decades, the usual market constraints that forced storytellers of yore to paint heroes and villains in monotones have almost ceased to exist.
Yet a significant number of mainstream films continued to feature standard villains that can be seen in films such as Pokri (2006), Singham (2010) and their subsequent Hindi remakes: Wanted (2009) and Singham (2011).
It would not be completely incorrect to say that popular movies found refuge in such stereotypes. It was the talisman that rarely failed to deliver.
With leading actors saluting the spirit of the same people they pinned most ills of the society on, popular films might soon need to find new villains to continue to feel one-up.