Actor Nikitin Dheer who is mostly known for essaying the role of antagonist Thangaballi in Chennai Express (2013) has also done the roles of villains in films such as Dabangg 2 (2012) and Ready (2011).
The actor finally got a chance to break away from his image of an antagonist as he played the role of an Army officer in Shershaah. When asked if he feels this image became a problem for him in his career he replied “I don’t think anything is a block as long as you are doing your job well. That counts. In other parts of India, be it Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, the villain is celebrated as much as the hero, not only in the narrative, but also story telling.”
The 41-year-old however feels that somehow, that has gone for a toss in the Hindi film industry in the last couple of years. “I really hope that comes back to life, so that young actors like us can aspire to be the next Amrish Puri, Praan saab, dream of achieving something like that, which is not only negative but a whole range of characters. People never treated Amrish ji as villain, they loved him as Mogambo, Gabbar (antagonist in Sholay), aise characters roz roz nahi likhe jaate. Villains can be celebrated again, somewhere that is lost,” says Dheer, who will be seen next in Antim: The Final Truth.
