Remembering LALITA PAWAR-The Leading Actress of Silent Era of Bollywood

Born Amba Laxman Rao Sagun on 18 April 1916, into an orthodox family in Yeola in Nashik,Lalita Pawar started her acting career at age nine in the film, Raja Harishchandra (1928), and later went on to play lead roles in silent era and 1940's films.

She changed her name to Lalita and in the 1930s acted in a series of successful daredevil silent films like Himmat-e-Mard ("A Brave Man"), Chevorlet and Captain Kishore..
LALITA PAWAR played the squint-eyed, scheming and vitriolic mother- in-law to perfection in scores of Indian films in an acting career that spanned nearly 60 years in Bollywood appearing in over 700 films.She was not a born squint in fact she became squint eyed in an accident while shooting in a film.
In 1942, as a part of a scene in the movie Jung-E-Azadi, actor Master Bhagwan was to slap her hard. Being a new actor, he accidentally slapped her very hard, which resulted in facial paralysis and a burst left eye vein. Three years of treatment later, she was left with a defective left eye; thus she had to abandon lead roles

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She later became famous as a character actress, in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati cinema.Her other memorable roles were in film, Anari (1959), Shri 420 and Mr & Mrs 55, and the role of Manthara, in Ramanand Sagar's television epic serial, Ramayan
She was given Best Supporting Actress Filmfare Award for Anari 1959,She was also given the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Acting in 1961.She was a powerful performer met a sad and lonesome end.Her death was unnoticed for two days when her family was in Mumbai for her husband's throat surgery.She died on 24 February 1998 in Aundh, Pune, where she had been staying, for a while.

Song from Gharana

Scene from Anari

Scene from Shri 420

Scene from Mr & Mrs 55

Remembering PREMNATH on his 90th Birth Anniversary

Premnath  was born on November 21, 1926 in a Punjabi family residing in Peshawar (situated in Pakistan after independence).His first Bollywood film 'Ajit' which was released in the year 1948 was also one of the first color films made in the Hindi film industry

He tasted success with appearances in films like 'Aag' and 'Barsaat'.As an actor was more acceptable to his audiences in the supporting cast or in a villainous role as against the lead role in a Hindi film. In fact, films which portrayed Prem Nath as the lead negative character went on to make record business in the history of Bollywood box office and were declared super hits in India.

Prem Nath fell in love with Bollywood leading lady Bina Rai when he was shooting for the film 'Aurat'. The couple married after a brief courtship and together opened a production company P N Films. 
Prem Nath and Bina Rai parented children Prem Krishen, who went on to become a Bollywood actor and Kailash Nath.His younger brother was comedian Rajendra nath,their sister was Raj Kapoor's wife Krishna.
He earned his first Filmfare nomination for best supporting actor for the film 'Shor ,though he was nominated for 'Bobby', 'Amir Garib' and 'Roti Kapda Aur Makaan.
Prem Nath's health condition deteriorated since his last Bollywood appearance 'Hum Dono' in 1985. He subsequently succumbed to a fatal heart attack in the year 1992. Prem Nath was 66 years of age at the time of death

Song from Barsaat 1949

Song from Badal 1951

Song from Sagai 1951

Song from Saqi 1952

Song from Abe Hayat 1955

Mai Deewana Mastaana Song from 49 Days 1959

A Rare Song from a film Raja Kaka 1973 ,Premnath Himself singing and acting

Bollywood's Top 15 Negative Roles Played by Heroes

A typical hindi film is full of emotions,melodrama.The Hero is invincible,no mission is impossible for him,he will be a winner always.Changes in his character are rare,he will never indulge in wrong things,If he is doing something wrong then it is under circumstsnces he is doing that.If he is taking the law in his own hands,his act will be morally justified in the end.

Ashok KumarThe first Negative Character played by a hero was done by Ashok Kumar in Kismet(1943).Kismet was severely criticised for glorifying crime and portraying a criminal in good light. Despite the criticism, the movie shattered all box office records, becoming the first Indian movie to gross 10 million (10 million) at the box office. It ran for 187 continuous weeks at Roxy Cinema in Calcutta, a record that stood for 32 years.Ashok Kumar  played a pickpocket and con man.He played Double role in this film.

Ashok Kumar played another memorable role as negative character in Jewl Thief(1967).The film stars Dev Anand, Vyjayantimala and Ashok Kumar in the lead roles.Ashok Kumar played the role of Arjun Singh.

Dev AnandThe next hero who comes in our mind is Dev Anand,who played a few characters with a negative shade, like inBaazi(1951)where he played Madan a small time Gambler, Jaal (1952) where he played a smuggler, then as an absconding gang member in Dushman, as a black marketer in Kala Bazar.

Dilip Kumar plays a negative character in Ganga Jamuna(1961) as Ganga, Ganga is framed by the landlord for a crime he did not commit, he escapes to the mountains with his girlfiend, Dhanno, and joins a band of bandits.Before this film he played a negative role after interval in Andaz(1949).After Andaz he played a negative role in  ‘Amar’( 1954) in which he portrayed the role of a respected lawyer in the eyes of the society but in reality he is a baddie who rapes a village lass (Nimmi) and later disowns her and tries to marry a prosperous city girl( Madhubala). The plot thickens when the village lass comes to the city hunting her beloved. To escape her eyes Dilip Kumar does all the villainous acts, including a plan to kill her! Though Dilip Kumar received critical acclaim, his fans couldn’t digest his vicious act. Hence the movie got a lukewarm response at box-office.

Sunil Dutt who did few negative roles in movies.The first such role was in Mother India(1957) Sunil Dutt played the role of Birju who embittered since childhood by the demands of Sukhilala, takes out his frustrations by pestering the village girls, especially Sukhilala's daughter, Rupa.
Birju's anger finally becomes dangerous and, after being provoked, he attacks Sukhilala and his daughter and steals Radha's kangan (marriage bracelets) that were pawned with Sukhilala. He is chased out of the village and becomes a bandit.Later on Birju returns with his gang of bandits to take his revenge. He kills Sukhilala and kidnaps Rupa. When he tries to flee the village on his horse, Radha, his mother, shoots him.In the 60’s when romantic movies were doing roaring business, Sunil Dutt, produced a real ‘Hat ke’ movie ‘Mujhe Jeene Do’ and portrayed a wicked and merciless Dacoit. The character was not laced with any flimsy background sympathy story, giving reason for taking up dacoit as seen in most dacoit movies. It was a straight movie on dacoit issue and their soulful plea to let them live. Sunil Dutt’s performance in the movie remains till date as the ‘Best dacoit’ performance ever performed on Hindi screen.

Dharmendra is another actor who did lot of negative character.The first movie comes in mind is Phool Aur Pathar(1966).This was the movie which went on to become a golden jubilee hit catapulting Dharmendra to stardom. Dharmendra played Shaka.Circumstances have made Shaka a career criminal. His performance in the movie ensured him a nomination in the Best Actor category in the Filmfare awards for that year. However, it was won by Dev Anand for his performance in Guide.Before this Dharmendra played the villain role in Aayee Milan Ki Bela(1964).Dharmendra played a lot of negative roles in his career. Don’t know why only his ‘Aayi Milan Ki Bela’ (1964) is hyped up. In addition to Maa(1976), he also played a bad guy in ‘Mera Qasoor Kya Hai’ (1964), Yakeen’ (1969), Jugnu(1973),‘Krodhi’ (1981), ‘Karishma Kudrat Kaa’ (1985) and ‘Begaana’ (1986).
In this 1981 film Krodhi directed by Subhash Ghai, Dharmendra played the role of Vicky, an abandoned young child who grew up amidst hatred and becomes a criminal after the death of his love interest. He later tries to live past his life in a small village, where he is revered as a godly man but is identified by one of his gang members.

Amitabh BachhanAfter Dharmendra most Anti Hero type roles are done by Amitabh Bachhan.The first such movie comes in mind was Parwana(1971).It was a  psychological thriller film directed by Jyoti Swaroop. It stars Amitabh Bachchan,Shatrughan Sinha Navin Nischol, Yogeeta Bali and Om Prakash. In this film, Amitabh plays his first negative role as an infatuated lover-turned-murderer.Amitabh Bachhan plays Kumar Sen, an artist by profession. He is in love with Asha (Yogeeta Bali). Asha wins a trip to Ooty in a dance competition, and falls in love with a wealthy tea plantation owner, Rajesh (Navin Nischol). When Kumar finds out, he goes to Asha's uncle, Ashok Verma (Om Prakash), and demands Asha's hand in marriage. When Ashok refuses, Kumar kills him. The manner in which Kumar plans and executes the murder is regarded as an immensely brilliant and engaging sequence.

Faraar, a 1975 Bollywood crime film drama. The film was produced by Alankar Chitra and directed by Shanker Mukherjee. The film stars Sharmila Tagore, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Sulochna, Sajjan, Agha and Bhagwan Dada. Amitabh played the role of Rajesh who has a younger sister who was raped  and murdered and the police are unable to find any clues and it is left to Rajesh to find the murderers and avenge her death. He traces the murderer and kills him, and is therefore now on the run from the police himself. Rajesh abducts a child as a hostage and seeks refuge in a house only to later learn that the child is the son of his former lover, who is now married to a Police Inspector. Rajesh is torn in two - whether to release the child, or to use him to make an escape.

Deewar(1975) made Amitabh as Angry Young Man immage.Amitabh played the character of Vijay loosely based on Haji Mastan,From a Dock Porter,he becomes a big smugler.Vijay beats up several thugs working for their ruthless leader Samant (Madan Puri), which then influences one of Samant's rivals to bring Vijay to his inner circle, leaving Vijay to become a new leading figure of the underworld. He also sacrifices his own education so his brother Ravi can study.Ravi becomes a Police Inspector,One of his first assignments is to apprehend and arrest some of Bombay's hardcore criminals and smugglers which includes his brother, Vijay – much to his shock, as he had never associated his own brother with criminal activities. Ravi must now decide between apprehending Vijay and quitting the police force. When Ravi finds out that Vijay has acquired wealth by crime, he decides to move out along with his mother. Shouldering past the loss of his mother and sibling,
When the two brothers meet for a final clash, Ravi, pleading Vijay to stop running, shoots Vijay in his arm and Vijay dies (after crashing his car into a wall while trying to escape) in his mother's arms in a temple, which he has visited for the first time in his life, seeking forgiveness. Ravi is felicitated for pursuing justice.

Shakti (English: Strength) is a 1982 Bollywood action crime drama film directed by Ramesh Sippy and starring Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Raakhee, Smita Patil and Amrish Puri with Anil Kapoor in a special appearance.Dilip kumar in a role of Police Commisioner and Amitabh plays his son Vijay is an antithesis to his father, espousing every thing his father dislikes. His father always thinks his son is going the wrong direction. But the pains that the son received in his childhood makes Vijay stronger and against his father. He finally has a fall-out with his father and leaves home. Vijay soon becomes a known name in the underworld. 

Don is a 1978, here Amitabh in Double Role,Don' begins, true to its title, as the story of one of the most powerful men in the business of crime. In spite of being on Interpol's Most Wanted list, Don (Amitabh Bachchan) remains elusive to the police. Besides the police, Don makes a few other enemies 
After years of unsuccessful attempts at nabbing Don, the police finally succeed. Unfortunately, Don dies in the heat of the chase, botching Officer D'Silva's plan to reach the source of all crime—the man Don reported to—through capturing Don alive. D'Silva buries Don's body, ensuring that people believe he may still be alive. As luck would have it, D'Silva remembers his chance encounter with Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan), a simpleton trying to survive in the hustle and bustle of Bombay in order to support two small foster children, who is an exact lookalike of Don. D'Silva hatches a plan to transform Vijay into Don so he can arrest the rest of the gang.

Agneepath was a 1990 Indian action drama film directed by Mukul Anand. It stars Amitabh Bachchan as the protagonist Vijay Deenanath Chauhan along with Mithun Chakraborty, Madhavi, Neelam Kothari, Rohini Hattangadi and Danny Denzongpa as the antagonist Kancha Cheena. 
A  village schoolmaster Dinanath Chavan (Alok Nath) strongly opposes the plans of Kancha Cheena (Danny Dengzongpa) and his band of gangsters to set up a base for heroin smuggling.He was murdered by Kancha Cheena and his wife was raped even then he go unpunished,  His son Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan)) takes on the responsibilities of caring for his mother and sister Siksha (Neelam) that, by a strange twist of fate, cause him to become a gangster in his own right. Working his way up the ladder and attaining notoriety as an underworld kingpin, Vijay suffers an assassination attempt by fellow gangsters after he refuses to co-operate with their drug-smuggling operations.Vijay avenges his assassination attempt by killing his killers one by one, but his mother strongly disapproves of his murderous and gangster tendencies and drives him away from home. Amitabh Bachchan received his first National Film Award for Best Actor at the 38th National Film Awards for his performance. 

Sanjay Dutt also played many negative roles His memorable roles were in Khalnayak.Vaastav and Kancha Cheena in Agnipath(2012)

Khal Nayak  a 1993 film  produced and directed by Subhash Ghai.The story centres on the escape and attempted capture of a terrorist criminal Ballu (Sanjay Dutt) by Inspector Ram (Jackie Shroff) and his girlfriend officer Ganga (Madhuri Dixit). Box office India declared the film a "Blockbuster" at the box office it was ranked as the 17th highest grossing Hindi film of all time, adjusted for inflation,

Vaastav is a 1999 Indian crime drama written and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar and starring Sanjay Dutt and Namrata Shirodkar.  The film is said to be loosely based on the life of Mumbai underworld gangster Chhota Rajan Sanjay Dutt played the role of Raghu,who along with his friend runs a pav bhaji counter where they accidentally kill a customer who turns out to be the brother of a notorious gangster,  Now on the run, the two of them soon kill Fracture Bandya and his men also, when the latter tries to find them and kill them both treacherously by arranging a meeting through Suleiman Bhai (Paresh Rawal), a middle man in the Mumbai underworld. Raghu and Dedh Footiya now end up in the Mumbai underworld.This is regarded by many as one of Sanjay Dutt's best performances,he was awarded Best Actor by Filmfare and many other awards that year.

Agneepath  is a 2012 Indian action drama film produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Karan Johar under the banner of Dharma Productions.Sanjay Dutt played the role of Kancha Cheena in it. His hairless appearance made his Character immortal.

Shahrukh Khan played negative roles in few movies.Baazigar is a 1993 Indian crime thriller film directed by Abbas–Mustan starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in lead roles.It was the first film in which Shah Rukh Khan played the role of an anti-hero and also the first film which earned Khan a Filmfare Award for Best Actor.The same year Darr was released, in this film also he played negative character
, "I love you, k-k-k-kiran". this became Shahrukh Khans famous dialogue.Shahrukh Khan got Filmfare Award as Best Villain for this role.

Anjaam was 1994 film where once again Shahrukh did a negative role.Shivani (Madhuri Dixit) is an air hostess for Air India. She meets Vijay Agnihotri (Shahrukh Khan), the son of a wealthy industrialist in a disco club. He tries to get friendly but without any success. Later he meets Shivani in an airplane and instantly falls in love but she shows no interest in him. This does not stop Vijay and he continues to pursue her, only to be rejected every time. Shivani marries another person,Vijay is now heartbroken and shocked.Vijay befriends Ashok with fake airline project as the hope of getting closer to Shivani. Ashok is totally oblivious to Vijay's real intentions, to the extent that he does not believe Shivani when she tries to convince him of what Vijay is planning against them. One day, Ashok kicks Shivani out of their house after they have an argument. Vijay witnesses this and severely beats Ashok, leaving him unconscious. When Ashok is being treated in the hospital, Vijay removes the oxygen mask keeping Ashok without oxygen supply, thereby killing him.
 He also played Don twice doing anti hero role

Nana Patekar another hero who played many negative characters one of such was Anna in Parinda  Nana Patekar colored the cold blooded, cruel character of Anna beautifully. Who fears the fire to the death, he gets hyper and crazy just looking at the fire. His crazy way of hitting his head with his own hand and screaming was quite a visual and which was never seen on screen before. No one could have done that better than him.He won his first National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was also awarded the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for the role.

Apaharan  a 2005  Hindi crime drama film directed by Prakash Jha and stars Ajay Devgan and Nana Patekar in the lead roles.Nana plays the role of  Tabrez Alam who is a powerful MLA and influential Muslim party leader, who is also an underworld don and controller of a large kidnapping racket.
Angaar (1992) is an Indian Hindi crime drama film directed by Shashilal K. Nair, The film stars Jackie Shroff, Dimple Kapadia, and Nana Patekar in lead roles. The film was speculated to have been based on the life ofKarim Lala Nana plays the character of Majid Khan who plays a builder.Nana Patekar won the Best Villain awrd for this movie.Shakti released in 2002 in which  Nana Patekar's acting was acclaimed by fans and critics and received several nominations at a number of award ceremonies.

Suniel Shetty is another Hero who played negative roles.He was involved primarily in action films throughout the 1990s, playing the male protagonist in most of the movies he acted in during the decade.Dhadkan(2000) was a  love triangle of individuals portrayed by Sunil Shetty, Shilpa Shetty and Akshay Kumar. The film was a critical as well as commercial success and was the fourth highest-grossing movie of the year. Sunil Shetty won a Filmfare Best Villain Award for his performance.Mein Hoon Na 2004 movie in which Suniel Shetty as Ex-Major Raghavan Dutta, A rogue ex-para commando who was court marshaled when he started killing innocent Pakistani citizens and stating that they were spies.He was nominated as Best Villain for Filmfare Awards and won that award for GIFA.

Naseeruddin Shah also played some negative characters which were memorable.Mirch Masala  a 1987 Hindi film directed by Ketan Mehta. It stars Naseeruddin Shah and Smita Patil in the lead roles.Naseer plays the character of  arrogant subedar.The subedar has an eye for women and soon spots Sonbai (Smita Patil) on the riverbank.  The subedar is a haughty and cruel man, who exploits his power in every possible way. The villagers are compelled to keep him satisfied; they regularly set up parties for him and his men, often at great expense to their meager means. They also arrange a steady supply of women for his pleasure.In 1994, he acted as the villain in Mohra, his 100th film as an actor. Naseeruddin Shah played the character of a blind Business Man,he was nominated as Best Villain by Filmfare Awards for this role.Another powerful performance was in Sarfarosh a 1999 Indian action thriller-drama film.He played the villain with the dual identity of a ghazal singer and a Pakistani spy who supports terrorism in India.His performance was well appreciated.and he was nominated for Best Actor in Nrgative Role for Filmfare Awards.

Saif Ali Khan  In Omkara, Saif plays the role of Ishwar 'Langda' Tyagi, a shrewd calculative man who ruthlessly manipulates his gang leader, Omkara. The actor went to great lengths to get the UP accent right and also coloured his teeth yellow, got a tan and shed his locks to look the part. All the ugliness paid off — Khan not only won Filmfare Best Villian Award but was also praised highly by critics.

Ajay Devgan he first negative role was in Diljale (1996).He played a patriot-turned-terrorist in that film.
Company was a 2002 Indian crime-thriller film directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The film was loosely based on the Indian mafia organization D-Company, known to be run by Dawood Ibrahim. Ajay Devgan plays Malik  the leader of the gang. The film features one cold-blooded murder scene wherein Malik and Chandu kill Saeed and his brother Anis in the rear seat of the car on a chilling rainy day. Thereafter Malik goes on a bloody rampage killing all his opponents, to take the reins of underworld in his hands. In this stage, Malik says a prominent dialogue "Saab ganda hai par dhanda hai ye" 
 Deewangee (2002), for which he earned a Filmfare Best Villain Award.The film stars Ajay Devgan, Akshaye Khanna and Urmila Matondkar in leading roles. He plays a character of split personality.
Omkara 2006 was the fim where he plays Omi who is a bahubali, a sort of political enforcer. He is the leader of a gang which commits political crimes for the local politician .He won IIFA Best Actor Award for this role.

Once Upon a Time In Mumbai 2010, he played the role of Sultan Mirza a gangster  though a kind hearted. Sultan Mirza becomes the kingpin of Mumbai's smuggling underworld. Through his influence, Mirza peacefully divides the city among four gangsters, thus thwarting police efforts to curb illegal activities. Despite being a criminal, Sultan Mirza is portrayed as a man of principle with a heart of gold and a godfather-like figure to the people.
Irrfan Khan a vesatile actor played many characters in films,his award winning performance in negative role was in Haasil. Irrfan Khan made the audience hate him as Ranvijay. He plays a man who will fall to any levels to get what he wants and leaves a spine-chilling impression on the audience.

Maqbool  a 2003 Indian crime drama film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj and starring Pankaj Kapoor,Irrfan Khan, Tabu. Maqbool (Irrfan Khan) is the right-hand man of Jahangir Khan (alias Abba Ji) (Pankaj Kapoor), a powerful underworld don. In a dramatic scene, Maqbool murders Abba Ji in cold blood while he is in bed at night, with Nimmi next to him. Maqbool gets away with it and takes over as don,

Paan Singh Tomar ( 2012 )a biographical film based on the true story of the athlete Paan Singh Tomar. A soldier in theIndian Army, he wins a gold medal at the Indian National Games, but is forced to become a notorious bandit.The performance was outstanding,Film critics in India highly appreciated the performance of Irrfan.