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"Whenever I have played a character with shades of grey, it has either been bigger than the protagonist or I have been both the hero and the villain," Humayun spoke about the characters he has portrayed. "That’s also one of the main reasons why I go for greyish characters as I end up upstaging the hero, if there is any (smiles). In Yalghaar, I am playing a person who is out and out a bad guy - my first villainous role too. I have been pitted against Shaan who is the biggest ‘hero’ in Pakistan; working with him and other ‘heroes’ in the star-studded venture was an enjoyable experience. Whether I manage to upstage them, you will have to wait and see."
#Evil #Film
instepoverview
‘Once a hero, always a hero’ may be an epitome for some but for those who dare, turning to the dark side is a challenge that must be accepted. Kevin Spacey in Superman Returns, Edward Norton in The Italian Job, Morgan Freeman in Now You’re Me, Jack Nicholson in The Departed, Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained, Liam Neeson in Batman Begins, Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Jason Statham . Whether in Furious 7 or Mel Gibson and Jean-Claude Van Damme in the Expendables franchise, many good people have gone bad in Hollywood. In Bollywood, the list includes John Abraham in Dhoom, Hrithik Roshan in Dhoom 2, Aamir Khan in Dhoom 3 as well as Shah Rukh Khan in Baaziar, Dar and most recently Fan.
What about actors on this side of the border? Pakistani actors tend to be stereotyped and die a hero if they live that way. Doesn’t it seem like they always turn out to be good guys because their fans don’t think they’re evil? Wrong!
Aslam Pervez, Pakistan’s first hero-turned-villain, once said, “Everyone wants to play a hero; no one wants to play a villain because it’s more difficult to play.” Of course, it’s difficult because you don’t get the girl, you have to bear the brunt of the hero’s punches and most of all the negative opinion from the public. That’s why after a handful of good villains hit the screen in the 60s – Aslam Pervez, Mustafa Qureshi (he looked great) and Masood Akhtar – even leading men took the risk of playing a baddie. Decided.
Apart from the legendary Muhammad Ali who started his career on the dark side, Nadeem was the first person to don a mustache for Sehaag where he played a burnt lover and later a society rapist. Apart from this, he also played roles with gray colors including Shama. Waheed Murad played the bad guy in Chashes Ka Ghar, while Javed Shaikh in the 90s played the bad guy who died in Ghar Kab Aa Ge. When Shaan was down with his luck in the 90s, he tried to make a comeback as a villain (Ghunghat) and Babar Ali followed suit (Ghar Kab Aayge, Yeh Dil Aap Ka Hawa), with his daring Appreciated the decision. Recently, there has been a trend on TV and film in which beautiful hunters try to break stereotypes and become worthy of public ire, which brings with it the decision to go bad.
Instep takes a look at some prominent actors who dared to experiment with their screen avatars…
Ahsan Khan
The handsome kid who debuted in Sangeeta’s Nikah has now become one of the leading actors of the country. He first became a bad guy with Sarmad Khost’s Paani Jesa Pyaar (2011) where he violated the character of Saba Qamar, who was killed by his brother, played by Babrik Shah. The same year in Mehreen Jabbar’s Nayat, her role had a gray cast and was quite successful despite the risk of being overshadowed by Humayun Saeed and Mahira Khan (both in the cast). But the actor recently crossed all boundaries by appearing as a child abuser in Ehtishamuddin’s Udi. In the first few episodes, he earns his sister-in-law’s trust by being a model brother and later proposes to her so that she and her child can live with the security of being a ‘man’ at home. Little did Samia Mumtaz’s character know that her new husband would misbehave with her daughter but she can’t be blamed – the audience wasn’t expecting Ahsan Khan to go down this path either! The actor (and the editorial team) is now being appreciated for taking responsibility for making people aware of sexual exploitation and breaking away from Saas-Bahu sagas.
Ayaz Samu
Ayaz Samu started his career as a stand-up comedian and later became a VJ. He criss-crossed India during the early part of his career and won many fans in the process. However, he broke the cycle of being a comedian/VJ and became a bully at Moore last year. Not only did he win the ‘Best Villain’ award, he also won praise from all quarters for being the perfect foil to America’s method actor Shazz Khan. Imagine what Samo would have achieved if the commando role in 021 had not been cut from the final version of the film. The actor went a step further this year and co-wrote the script for Aks Band, Pakistan’s first film in the found footage genre.
Hasan Niazi
Hasan Niazi’s portrayal of a politician is the main reason why the government has removed Malik from the screen. He is so convincing as the Chief Minister in some scenes that you forget that he is an actor playing a role. Before breaking into Malik, he practiced the art on TV and was successful but not always. He was the beloved Azar in Kabhi Azar Ki Aye Gee Baaraat and also played an integral role in many TV dramas, some of which are currently on air. Let’s see if he goes back to being a good guy or explores his dark side in the future.
Humayun Saeed
Humayun Saeed first appeared in a shadowy role in 1999 (Sameena Pirzada Ki Mohabbatein) opposite the handsome Zeeshan Sikandar. With his powerful performance, Humayun takes complete control of the film, in which he only wants Sara’s attention (Sara to be mine!). After that, he continued to play good guy roles on TV and became one of the most recognizable faces in the country until Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘Jashan – The Music Within’ (2010) where he played Indian And made the Pakistani audience hate him. The hero stops at nothing to bring him down.
Within six months, he was back as The Man You’d Hate to Love, this time on Geo Entertainment’s Uran, playing a psychologist who marries Ayesha (Saba Qamar) and Divorces Sveera. And proposed to TV anchor Sana (Amina Shaikh). Needless to say, the character of Dr. Faraz came across as a fraud, but he played both sides of the picture to perfection. When he wanted to, he was soft and gentle. When he wasn’t in the mood, he was on fire, literally! Similarly in Kafir, he played an atheist who was avenging the heroine for insulting her and here again, he was both the protagonist and the antagonist. Now, in the coming months, Humayun will be playing his first full villain role in Saeed Hasan Waqqas Rana’s Yelgar, where he will be taking on Shaan, Adnan Siddiqui and Bilal Ashraf to name a few. Hamza Ali Abbasi’s directorial debut Kumbakht Ki No Khabar, starring Humayun Shehryar Manoor, Sohay Ali Abaro and the director himself as a one-eyed warrior.
Shimoun Abbasi
On TV he’s usually a good guy who solves everyone’s problems (most recently in Juno); That’s the problem on the movie screen! Shimoun Abbasi has been around since the late 90s but usually plays either comedy roles or full-throttle action ones. He made his film debut in 2010 with Faisal Bukhari’s Bhai Log where he was one of the few ‘good’ gangsters. All that changed when Vaar happened where he stunned everyone by playing a cold-blooded killer who set a man on fire as soon as he entered the story. He was a master of disguise who was paid to wreak havoc but was unable to succeed because Shawn was the one pursuing him. In his second film 021 where he again opposite Shaan, Simeon’s role was shadowed though his role was cut to a mere guest appearance. The actor is all set to be seen in Sawal 700 Crore, the trailer of which shows him playing a good guy for a change – but looks can be deceiving!
“Everyone wants to be the good guy on screen in Pakistan; many people are not willing to play the bad guy because it doesn’t look good on their resume,” Shamoon said. “Playing roles with shades of gray doesn’t make me a bad guy so when I’m offered such roles, they find me agreeable. Besides, I guess there’s no better bad guy to fill than me (smiles ).”
Zahid Ahmed
He has a voice to die for but his acting is just as mesmerizing – Zahid Ahmed hasn’t been around for long but in his first year as a TV actor he’s managed to command the audience’s hatred.
In his side Sangat, he played the role of a boy who raps Saba Qamar’s character during a break-in, while in Alwaida, he is a psychopath who destroys the life of his wife (played by Sanam Jung). makes hell when it turns out that she is still in love with him. For someone famous for playing the role of Quaid-e-Azam in former (Imran Abbas) Anwar Maqsood’s theater plays, Zahid Ahmed is full of wonder! Currently her good side is on air in Besharam and Zara Yadkar, two dramas that are doing very well but earlier this year, the award she bagged was for her negative acting.
