A Villain Who is Much Acclaimed and Admired

         MUMBAI:  "You see, what happens in the role of a villain remains the same. It is the involvement of the actor that can make the same role more interesting. So everytime I am told this is a totally different role that I am getting, a totally different character. But when the role comes to me, I find it to be exactly the same as I had acted before.

          "Now, in the same role, without disturbing the impact of the character, if you add a dimension like new lines or gimmicks, they become more interesting performance. People react to them in a positive way," said Prem Chopra.

          The evil, debased, detestable uncle, step-father, neighbour, a part of society ... are just some of the roles Prem Chopra has portrayed. And more often than not, his character works in a double-dealing, underhand way ... all milk and butter on the surface, and a roguish rapscallion down below, something he excels in, putting on just the right colours.

           In some 35 years in the industry, he has acted in almost 400 films, earlier on as a good guy, but mostly in the villain's role. Changing times have had changing demands. There used to be only one medium of entertainment, cinema. So everybody would like to go to the pictures irrespective of the status of the film. Whether the film is good, a super-hit, or bad, it won't be a total flop, the producer will not be put out of business. He will stay because he will be able to recover his investment, may be with a marginal loss or so. But now-a-days if the film is bad, things fall flat, the producer is wiped out totally.

           So now you have to give something entirely new and different. Things have changed vastly from the days when he started out, and actors have to be complete packages, knowing what it takes to reach the top and something special to stay there.

          Prem Saab as a veteran has earned tremendous respect from peers and audience alike, and is all admiration for the new crop. "The new crop of actors, both men and women, are an extremely focussed lot. They are also aware of the competition they are facing and are on the alert all the time. They work very hard. They understand the media very well. Also, they are educated, so they can grasp the entire thing much better," he said.

          The central idea and theme of all his roles is to bring out to audiences the villain in all his forms as a detestable, hateful and pathetic member of society, someone who is defeated eventually by his own actions and schemes. And as that mirror, he has been hugely successfull too.

October 1, 2002