Team FC
Amidst three heroes stood Amjad Khan's Gabbar Singh, fierce, cunning, and endlessly entertaining. Khan gave Sholay an edge over other masala films of the time, and the character stayed with audiences long after they had left the theatre.
While obviously derived from James Bond's nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Shakaal was quite unique to the villainscape of mainstream Hindi cinema. Kulbhushan committed fully to the megalomania of the character, making one sit on edge instantly.
Shekhar Kapur's film was a landmark in Hindi cinema, and while it had some terrific characters, looming over them all was Amrish Puri's Mogambo. Hailed by Steven Spielberg as 'The best the world has ever produced and ever will', Puri tapped into something that walked the tightrope of evil and entertaining in playing antagonist to Mr. India.
Playing villain once meant getting typecast in Hindi cinema at one time. Then a man from Delhi overcame that barrier, playing villain in successive films in 1993. Yash Chopra's Darr was the second of those, and Shah Rukh Khan was chilling but loved for his turn as the obsessive Rahul Mehra.
Gen Z would call probably call Gulfam Hassan a green flag, and he is, for much of Sarfarosh's runtime. Naseeruddin Shah makes pulling off both the mellow ghazal singer and the sinister terrorist seem like a normal day at the office, he is just that good!
Vishal Bhardwaj remade Saif Ali Khan's screen image with Langda Tyagi, the antagonist of his heartland adaptation of Othello. Khan was all smiles and wiles, and walked away with all the accolades the film's acting got, emerging as a bankable actor in a space he was unfamiliar with.
Hardly anyone aside from Radhika Apte's Sophie is a nice person in Sriram Raghavan's Andhadhun, but Simi Sinha, played by Tabu, is probably the worst of the people in the film. The actress plays Simi with glee and horror, almost as though she too is shocked that someone could be this terrible, before proceeding to add to her list of on-screen crimes.
Thanks for reading!