Turning the hero inside out

The egoistic feudal lord may have been abhorred and heckled but the don is idolised and welcomed with unabashed applause

"Uppi breathes life into the character he plays on screen. I can feel his pain when he struggles," said the driver of the auto I had hailed after watching A, Upendra's debut film, 10 years ago.

A cab driver, an ardent fan of Tamil superstar Rajnikanth, had once told me, "I've grown up watching Thalaivar's (leader, in Tamil) films. Bhasha is my favourite film.u00a0 Whenever corrupt policemen try to extract money from me, I wish I were Bhasha. I would have taught them the right lesson."u00a0

These are a few voices that decide the fate of a film at the box office. And they've come under the spell of the hero with shades of grey, rather than a superman-like creation.

The egoistic feudal lord may have been abhorred and heckled but the don is idolised and welcomed with unabashed applause.u00a0

Remember Shivarajkumar as Sathya in Om? He was the regular guy who broke free of system to embrace the world of crime. Sathya became some sort of a folk hero.u00a0

From Sathya in Om to Madesha in Jogi, Shivarajkumar has mastered the act of playing don with the big heart.u00a0

Om, directed by Upendra, was a trendsetter because it romanticised the underworld. Blood, tears and spilled guts became the recurrent motif in films that followed.

Revolting against the establishment was seen as the only way to preserve individuality. The hero couldn't allow the system to get the better of him. He had to take the 'eye for an eye' route than show the other cheek, fuelled by the response of his fans.

Screen dons and self-styled Robin Hoods have a timeless appeal. Or, do they?