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Actor Shakti Kapoorwho played villainous roles for much of his career, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s in Hindi cinema, recently reflected on a period when he attempted to move beyond typecasting and take on leading roles. At the time in Bollywood, once an actor became identified with a particular kind of role, it was almost impossible to break free from that image.
Shakti, however, says he tried to do that and was left ‘zakhmi’ for his efforts. In a recent interview, the actor said he was inspired by Vinod Khanna, who began his career by doing negative roles before successfully transitioning to leading roles. Another actor who managed to achieve the feat was Shah Rukh Khan, who flirted with grey characters in films such as Anjaam and Darr but then emerged as a Bollywood hero.
“My favourite villain was Vinod Khanna when he did negative roles. He was so handsome. I have never seen this sort of male beauty ever. I was sure he would become a hero. He was the one who inspired me to play a hero in the film Zakhmi Insaan. I thought I also had the hero’s face and I can also play the male lead,” Shakti said in an interview with The Powerful Humans.
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Shakti Kapoor acted in the 1980 film Zakhmee Insaan, which is considered among the colossal flops in Hindi cinema. “Film’s name was Zakhmee Insaan. It left me, the producer, the director, the distributor and the audience zakhmee (injured). It went up on screens at 12 and was removed at 12:15. Pandrah minute mei utar gayi (It was taken off screens within 15 minutes). It was that big a hit. I never dared play the part of the hero after that,” he recalled.
Shakti earlier said that he had to beg for villain roles after Zakhmee Insaan flopped, which he was refusing with impunity before. “Before that, I had told everyone I worked with as a villain that I wouldn’t play such roles anymore because I was now a hero. After the film’s release, I went back to all of them, begging for my villain roles again,” he said.
Shakti Kapoor believes the villain character has largely died in Hindi cinema. “There used to be a hero, villain, heroine, vamp and a comic character. Times have changed now and the male actors have all sorts of shades nowadays,” he said.
