M-town hotties to B-town baddies

M-Town actor Santosh Juvekar recently completed the shoot of his Bollywood debut film Dekh Tamasha Dekh where he plays a negative role. Directed by Firoze Khan, the film also has Tanvi Azmi, Rajat Kapoor and Satish Kaushik among others. Santosh elaborates on his role. “It is a role of small town boy who is in love with a girl. His character turns grey when he realises she is in love with someone else.”
The trend of having M-Town actors playing a baddie in Bollywood seems to be present for a while now.However, it is only recently that the characters have become more distinct in portraying the negative shades. Ashok Samarth shot to fame as Prakash Raj’s sidekick in Singham. Recently, M-Town’s Chinmay Mandlekar essayed the role of a bad cop in Shanghai.
Even though there have been exceptions like Shreyas Talpade who have managed to get positive roles, most Marathi actors get typecast in negative or comic roles. However, actors insist that they feel encouraged in Bollywood because it is all about being versatile. They believe that even though they have been restricted in playing negative roles, they have been able to create a niche space. Actor/filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar, who has portrayed negative characters in Bollywood, says, “Actors who play negative roles in Bollywood do not harbour dreams of becoming heroes. Marathi actors get challenging roles and they are doing extremely well.”
Ravi Kale, who played a negative character in Sarkar Raj, admits that in Bollywood, looks are important when it comes to being offered the lead role. “In the Hindi film industry, you need to have certain traits to play a positive role. Every actor has some limitations. I am not interested in becoming a hero. I am a theatre person and for me performance is more important.” Chinmay agrees, “In Hindi films we have a clear demarcation — one is a hero and the other a villain.
Unfortunately, most Marathi actors do not have the looks of a typical hero. When director Dibakar Banerjee selected me to play a grey character, part of the reason was also my looks.” Most actors agree that competition is extremely tough in Bollywood. Santosh reveals: “For actors who do not belong in Bollywood, it is difficult to make a mark. So we look for roles which give us the space to do something different. If negative roles are powerful and have a scope for performance, we tend to accept them. Even Shah Rukh Khan did negative roles in films like Darr, Baazigar and Anjaam in the beginning of his career.”