Guest Article By Rajagopalen Rajaram : Villain Inc

I thank my close friend and aspiring (budding) film maker Monish for allowing to post in his blog.As an ardent follower of Kollywood from my young age, the villains in movies have been my wonder, having so much power but succumbing to a single hero is always a happening thing but without them the heroes dont have a chance to show heroism.

This post discuss about the super villains in several eras 

The Great Laughter Era:

In this era the best villain is undoubtedly P.S Veerappa, having a malevolent laughter which makes the babies to stop crying (or vice-versa), anyhow he had the power to stir the fear among the heroines (automatically their palm closes the mouth).

Special Weapons:

• Laughter and more laughter
• Sword       

Travels by: Horse

Baddie Rating: 3.5/5 

The Hand Rubbing Era:

Here the best (still the best) villain is none other than Nagalingam, the don of the baddies. Always a rich landlord with a beautiful daughter or a rich landlord preying for a cute laborer heroine, showing that he is the master. The rich personality makes him to follow a cult to show off his prowess by wearing gold chains(u can see him wearing outside his dress), bracelets, travelling in car. Eventually he was the person who turned from one man villain show to an incorporate having many people working under him thereby making the hero much more macho since he has to fight hierarchy of nagu's goons before facing him.

The major or the most important thing is his body language, rubbing his hands and laughing malevolently made him the most hated person in the state.

                                                                  

Special Features of this Era:

• There always exists a conflict between Ramu and Nagu. 
• He always tries to molest the heroine which takes place for a long time but eventually stopped again and again by Ramu.
• The Police entry scene in the climax was introduced in this era and later became the must ritual in later years.

Weapons:

• Sword (in some early movies of this era)
• Deer Horns (used only by Ramu)
• Rifle guns (used only by Nagu)
• A pole (By Nagu's Undermen)

Travels by: Car, Bullock Carts


Baddie Rating: 5/5

The Gap:

A gap was formed in 70's and 80's since Ramu underwent many changes and proceeded to represent the people and Nagu also lost his villainy over the years. The void was filled by several personalities but they did not have the capability of Nagu and the films which came were mostly socially oriented, so the villains had their much deserved rest after 3 decades. Nevertheless several baddies are worth mentioning.

Parattai:

Be it pushing his close friend from the boat or saying how is it in a villainous tone he is the undoubted style king. His switchover from Parattai to Kaalayan garnered him the largest fan base among the actors and he never became Parattai but as Chitti recently.

Baddie Rating: 4/5 

                                                           

Mr.Gopinath:

This guy is known for his witty sarcasm, womanizer and a tough macho villain. His delivery of dialogue, witty one liners and ability to change his body language gave him the aspiration to become a successful hero in his later years.

Baddie Rating: 3/5 

                                                                  

  

Mark Antony:

Towering over 6 feet he became the reigning villain in the late eighties. Always a rich dude in the block, puts a continuous effort to show that he is baddie no.1. His height and intimidating body language, a peculiar voice made the heroines to hide, be it saying a single dialogue to an innocent wife or teasing the numero uno he does it with an ease. His gradual switchover from the baddie camp to the the good side gained him honours but his untimely demise was a shock to everyone.

Baddie Rating: 4/5 

 

                                                            

           

                                                                                                          

                                                           

          

                                                      

Some Facts:

• The Villains formed a cartel against the numero uno  
• The Villain Inc diversified into urban and rural villains.
• Urban Villains includes Mr.Gopinath, Nagalingam (second season), spoilt rich brat 1, spoilt rich brat 2 and the maya thevar(became a rural villain in the next era)
• Rural villains were usually the Sandal polish man and the ever terrorizing Ekambaram.
• The other villain is of occasional type; he acts along with good guys, sometime sings a song or do the usual villain stuff.
• Some villains were police officers too (ex: Mr.Gokulnath), so the films started to show the police force acting according to villain's wish.
• The villain's undermen were given uniforms to wear (mostly a shocking red color dress with a white belt or black dress with white belt).
• The spoilt rich brats showed signs of martial arts while fighting with heroes (fights inspired or ripped off from bruce lee movies)
• The urban villains sported a suit whereas the rural villains usually wore dubai return dress.
• A bald headed or a fat undermen is usually hit by the hero's friend( film's comedian) in climax.
• The police arrival in climax.                                                   

                                                                  

Weapons:

• The Pole (but produced metallic sounds)
• Revolver (the baddies always miss the target and the hero starts to hit him after the baddie uses up all the 6 bullets)
• Some villains even provided Uzi's to their undermen.
• Japanese and Chinese martial arts weapons were used commonly in all wrong methods.
• Local undermen used empty soda bottles, cycle chains etc.
• Bombs (emits various color smoke, usually the target-hero is missed)

Transport:

• Imported luxury cars for urban villains
• Ox carts for rural villains (their ever beautiful daughters only know to drive a car)
• Motorbikes for spoilt rich brats.
• Undermen also ride bikes but they are sent flying off the road by heroes.

Avg Era Baddie Rating: 4/5

                                                     

The Modern Era:

The modern period of tamil film required villains from variety of fields, that was the power of Villain Inc.diversification. For the reader's ease I classify them to following categories

                                                             

The Unpatriotic Way:

With the advent of heroes like Army major and the Stylish Cop, they were not satisfied with local baddies but wanted to save the nation from variety from of foreign terrorists(mostly from bagistan as in case of our cop). These imported villains were from far away lands and had a physique better than our heroes. Only one was a local baddie who could double up as a bagistan terrorist or a kidnapper. He is none other than our Head Shaker. His sloppy body language gained more support along with a sarcastic dialogue delivery and a great attitude towards women made him the perfect villain aginst our Cop.

Facts:

• Common agenda - Destroy India
• Names were usually derived from mismatching bagistan cricket players
• Spoke Tamil better than our heroines.
• A politician is always the master mind (mostly a central minister).
• He wears a dark green pyjama.
• In the midst of a secret operation they dance to a song. 

Weapons and Transport:

• Pistol
• AK-56 is more common
• Hand Grenades are most common
• A time bomb
• Boats (hideouts in islands)
• Jeep
• Helicopters

Baddie Rating: 3.5/5 

The Machete Way: 

The machete way or popularly called as Aruval Culture movies started with Son of the Master film, although it was inspired from several true stories it had a strong impact on the people. The net result was divided into three categories

• Urban machete movies
• Rural machete movies
• Machete 'natural' movies

Some Common Facts (only abt first two)

• Villain has a sizeable army from 15 to 50 members
• Villain Inc is outsourcing by supplying manpower from other baddies to the main villain in climax scene
• An item number is mandatory.
• Liquor and briyani are the undermen's staple diet.
• Mobile usage is common.
• Undermen sport varieties of jeans, cargoes in urban movies whereas white dhoti and shirt in rural movies. 
• The most important fact is that the terrific shouting match between heroes and villains can take place.

Muthupandi:

This villain has nearly achieved the status of Nagalingam, his sheer commitment towards the character has won him many accolades, be it a slimy village villain or a opportunistic hubby or a city villain he plays it with ease. His character roles also gave him honors but the villain roles were the best.

Baddie Rating: 4.5/5

Weapons and Transport:

• Machete of all sizes
• Guns
• Hero uses bucket, sewer lids, spades
• Mallet
• Strictly Tata Sumo and Scorpio cars
• City villains use luxury sedan whereas rural villain use different color Sumo
• Bikes are used sometimes

Facts For Natural Machete movies:

These movies portray the so called 'realism' but the realism when comparing within these movies have been more or less similar.

• Villains are more or less in their teens
• All villains wear dirty jeans.
• Taking bath is out of question
• A Parotta shop plays a major role
• Liquor is the common drink
• Mostly have no motives other than slitting throats
• Have no particular weapon to brandish
• Sometime guns and many times knives or blades will do the trick for them.
• Can do gruesome murders

Baddie Rating: 3.5/5

  

                                                                 

                                                         

                                                                     

So ppl its a long post(boring too) will continue abt our villains in my next post but totally in a different perspective.