Tamil villains on the prowl

Close on the heels of Tamil actor Samuthirakani 's baddy act in 'Ala Vaikunthapurramloo,' another Tamil actor Bobby Simha is all set to send shivers down the spine of viewers in his upcoming film 'Disco Raja.'

"Bobby Simha will be portraying a menacing role and he matched strides with Ravi Teja in our action saga. Bobby Simha is a very talented guy," said director Vi Anand.

Already, K-town star Vijay Sethupathi has joined the bandwagon of Tamil heroes-turned-baddies with his proposed antagonist role in Allu Arjun's next movie with Sukumar.

"Unlike Vijay Sethupathi, who is a popular Tamil hero, Samuthirakani and Bobby Simha were popular villains in Tamil cinema. The former enthralled viewers with negative roles from 'Subramanyapuram' to 'Paayum Pulli', he also won appreciation for his positive roles in films like 'Appa' and bagged national award for his scintillating performance in 'Visaranai'.

Whereas, Bobby Simha rose to fame playing a kidnapper (Sudhu Kavvum), while his gangster role in 'Jigarthanda' fetched him national award for best supporting actor.

So, this time we have few acclaimed actors, who could slip into any kind of role with ease," says director Gunasekar, who introduced Tamil actor Arya as villain in Telugu with 'Varudu'.

Although Madhavan (Savyasachi), Arjun (Lie) and Prasanna (Jawan), S J Suryah (Spyder) couldn't make a career in T-town but Aadi Pinnisetty, Arun Vijaykumar are doing different roles, while Arvind Swamy, who impressed with his suave villainy act in 'Dhruva,' stayed away from Telugu movies.

"Most of these actors are busy in Tamil movies. They could come back to Telugu films if they find the right script or probably for a fancy pay cheque, otherwise they are happy with their happening carers in Kollywood," says director Bobby.

With the advent of new-age stars from Mahesh Babu to Ram Charan and Jr NTR to Prabhas along with the likes of Allu Arjun, more Tamil stars will join the party since Telugu dream merchants are finding it hard to get young villains.

"With T-town loaded with ageing villains like Prakash Raj, Sampath Raj, Rao Ramesh and Jagapathi Babu, Telugu filmmakers are keenly watching Tamil movies these days in search of new villains," says director Santhosh Srinivas, who claims that finding a perfect villain for young heroes is easier said than done. "It takes lot of effort," he concludes.