By DEVEN KOTHARI

I’m not talking the obvious great ones like Amrish Puri, Pran, Ajeet, Amjad Khan, Anupam Kher, Naseeruddin Shah, Shakti Kapoor, Gulshan Grover, Ranjeet, Prem Chopra and the likes. This is a list of those familiar baddies who were always around more often than not, but not hailed as much as the aforementioned ones. They left their unique impressions in Hindi cinema through villainous turns in lesser known films, especially in the 1990s, when most of us grew up watching tonnes of trashy Bollywood “masala” flicks.

RAMI REDDY

The bearded Telugu veteran was already famous down South before arresting Hindi viewer imaginations with his deadpan voice, deadpan face, laid back gait, dead-toned eyes and unmistakably accented threats. He made his debut in Chiranjeevi’s Bollywood debut Pratibandh (remake of Telugu hit Ankusham), readapting his ‘Spot Naga’ gangster role into Spot Anna, before making an independent mark as a terrorists-leading Colonel (remember the uniform?) in one of many 1990s Akshay Kumar-Sunil Shetty starrers, Waqt Hamara Hai. He went on to appear in a host of similar hero-versus-vile-villain movies like Khuddar, Angrakshak, Veer, Kalia, Loha and Gunda. His villainy made the receding hairline and beard “look” famous far before our government did. He passed away in 2011, but his work through Bollywood’s most in-between decade will always be remembered – in a deadpan, nasal tone.

TINNU ANAND

Once an assistant to Satyajit Ray, Anand started his career as a successful Bollywood director in the 1980s – Amitabh starrers Shahenshah and Kaalia being his major hits. But I remember him primarily for his chest-beating non-baddie role in Vijay Anand’s Agneepath, where he plays a senile Maandva villager rooting for his “Viju” (Bachchan) to return and avenge the death of the town. When he became a baddie, Chamatkar and Anjaam – both early Shah Rukh Khan movies – were his calling cards. One can invariably imagine Anand as the paan-chewing, two-faced, evil-eyed baddie against the background of the glittering-horse villain-den interiors. He remained someone who could play both sides of the line, though.

MUKESH RISHI

The tall, buffed up and nostril-flaring Rishi is more than just Bulla in Kanti Shah’s ridiculous cult classic, Gunda. He was iconic in other 1990s potboilers – as the flute-playing baddie in Judwaa, as don Billa Jilani in Gardish, as the ominous Kevda Thakur in SetMax favourite Sooryavansham, as Ramu Kalia in Arjun Pandit and as thug Satpal Dhonga in Ram Shastra. He became known for his versatility just like Tinu Anand, with his finest moment coming when outperforming Aamir Khan as sincere fellow cop Inspector Salim in Sarfarosh, though he spent much of the noughties back in his baddie avatar. Unfortunately, he has not appeared in a Hindi film for three years.

SADASHIV AMRAPURKAR

The Marathi stage actor became the first-ever winner of the Filmfare Best Villain award (for Mahesh Bhatt’s Sadak as the scary cross-dressing Maharani, in 1991 when it was instituted) had already made a mark in Govind Nihalani’s classic, Ardha Satya (1983), winning the Supporting Actor award. Amrapurkar effortlessly switched between comedy (Hum Hain Kamaal Ke; who can forget the ‘shampoo omelette’ scene?) and parental villainy (Coolie no. 1, Ishq) through the 1990s, and reminded us that the two genres of unconventional acting are often inherently connected.

DANNY DENZONGPA

The super-stylish, slick haired Sikkimese actor was perhaps the most popular of them all, owing to his unorthodox descent and relaxed screen presence. Funnily enough, he won two Filmfare Supporting Actor awards, and didn’t win Best Villain despite being nominated five times for some seriously memorable performances (Hum, Krantiveer, Vijaypath, Barsaat and Ghatak). Perhaps his most memorable turn came as underworld don Kancha Cheena in Agneepath – the rare Hindi film in which the hero and the villain were equally iconic. Lately, he has appeared in bit roles (Baby, Bang Bang!), but hasn’t appeared to have aged a bit, still carrying the sort of disciplinary swag that suggests he might have a few years left in him – but perhaps not as a villain.

SPECIAL MENTION:

MOHNISH BEHL

Known as actress Kajol’s “evil” cousin (son of Nutan), Behl was the ultimate “rich-young” villain (either a wealthy scheming businessman, rich daddy’s kid or the heroine’s unreliable squeeze) in Bollywood for the 1990s, until Sooraj Barjatya was convinced that his face was in fact a noble one (big-brother roles in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Hum Saath Saath Hain). But that couldn’t undo the quintessential badness he had enforced on most heroes of the decade — from Bol Radha Bol to Prem Rog to Duplicate to Dulhe Raja.