The slain UP gangster Vikas Dubey was an avid admirer of Hindi movies. He supposedly watched Arjun Pandit (1999), where Sunny Deol plays a dreaded gangster, more than 100 times. Don Dubey바카라s eventful life, leading up to his recent killing, appears to have all the masala that filmmakers would want for a movie. Some of them have already registered different titles and are developing scripts based on his life. This is not unusual given how Bollywood has glorified dons onscreen for decades. Such movies have fascinated both filmmakers and the audience. Here바카라s a lowdown on how the quintessential Bollywood ganglord has evolved onscreen over the years:
The Whistling Don
K.N. Singh was the original don of Bollywood, the badman-next-door. He, however, did not have to flex his muscles to scare the audience. One menacing look from his bulging eyes was enough to send shivers down people바카라s spines in theatres. Between Baghban (1938) and Kaalia (1981), he played the 바카라boss바카라 with remarkable aplomb and chutzpah in classics such as Baazi (1951) and Howrah Bridge (1956). No cheap antics, lousy get-ups or over-the-top dialogues for him. He was too suave to resort to that. He just wore a felt hat at night, an overcoat in summer, smoked cigars in the mean streets of Bhindi Bazaar and blew his trademark whistle coolly when he meant business.
The Don From The Laundry
Ajit made his mark as a competent actor in films like Mughal-e-Azam (1960), but posterity will remember him as a stylish don, who seemed to hire more Manish Malhotras than trigger-happy Sheras and Raakas by his side. Happy to be in the company of a sizzling 바카라Mona Darling바카라 with come-hither looks, he always appeared as if he had stepped out of a laundry in a sparkling white suit. His inimitable drawl announced how the entire city knows him by the name of 바카라Loin바카라. The characters he played have given an edge to Bollywood over its Western counterparts as far as the portrayal of dons is concerned. After all, which other don maintained a large indoor pool filled with acid just in case somebody turned up to show 바카라herogiri바카라 in his den! Jokes on the don extraordinaire captured people바카라s imagination long before memes and GIFs about him flooded the internet.
Amitabh Bachchan in Don; Prem Nath in Dharmatma; Danny Denzongpa in Agneepath; Ajay Devgn and Vivek Oberoi in Company.
The Godfather Don
The dons in Hindi cinema were villains in 50 shades of black the audiences loved to hate before The Godfather (1972) happened. Marlon Brando바카라s altruistic don, who distributed guns and roses to the needy in equal measure, inspired Feroz Khan back home to make Dharmatma (1975). The desi version featured Premnath as the don in the eponymous role, but he was not modelled on any Coppola character or, for that matter, real-life Indian dons of the era, such as Haji Mastan and Karim Lala. Premnath바카라s character was instead inspired by the 바카라matka king바카라 of Bombay, Ratan Khatri, who passed away in May 2020. Khan, however, chose to play Al Pacino, wooing Hema 바카라Apollonia바카라 Malini around the Bamiyan Buddhas in idyllic pre-Taliban Afghanistan.
The Elusive Don
From Ashok Kumar to Dev Anand, Bollywood바카라s A-listers had occasionally played anti-heroes before, but it was Amitabh Bachchan who made it fashionable by playing a don in Chandra Barot바카라s Don (1978). Though he had a parallel, double role as a simpleton from Banaras, his stylish act left a lasting impression, inspiring a latter-day superstar like Shah Rukh Khan to reprise the role in Don: The Chase Begins (2006). Come to think of it, many top heroes of the 바카라70s turned down this role and distributors were wary of the film바카라s title, but the audience loved Big B바카라s dialogue: 바카라Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai바카라 (It is not just difficult but also impossible for cops to catch the don).
The Real-To-Reel Don
Yash Chopra바카라s Amitabh Bachchan classic Deewar (1975), a hit based on the rampant smuggling in the 바카라70s, is said to have been inspired by Haji Mastan. The trend of making movies on real-life dons, however, caught on with Mani Ratnam바카라s Nayakan (1987). In the film, Kamal Haasan portrays Varadarajan Mudaliar, a gangster from Tuticorin who held sway over Mumbai from the 바카라60s to the 바카라80s. Vinod Khanna played the same character in its remake, Dayavan (1988), directed by Feroz Khan. Here again, the don was a man with a golden heart who atoned for his acts of crime by doing charity, both at home and away. This don shunned flamboyance and fantasy dens teeming with moustachioed gun-toting henchmen to get closer to the big city ghettos and operate smoothly from there.
Manoj Bajpayee in Satya
The Don With A Cause
The gangster dramas The Godfather spawned remained in vogue with films like Parinda (1989) right until the 1990s. Amitabh Bachchan played a don-with-a-cause to perfection in Mukul Anand바카라s Agneepath (1990). As Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, Big B changed his baritone a la Brando and travelled back in time to get into the skin of his angry young man characters of yore to deliver a National Award-winning performance. Facing him in the same film was a dapper-looking Danny Denzongpa as Kancha Cheena, who seemed to be the reincarnation of 바카라Loin바카라 Ajit, except for the fact that this don바카라s den had shifted from the shallow water of Madh Island to the all-blue seas of Mauritius. The new version starring Hrithik Roshan (2012) may have been a bigger hit, but it was no patch on the original.
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The Subaltern Don
The era of underworld dons gave way to gangsters from the hinterland with the rise of directors like Anurag Kashyap. In Ardh Satya (1984) and Parinda (1989), the dons emerged from the netherworld of crime-meets-politics in metro cities, but with films like Shool (1999), they descended in droves from small towns. This don with a gamcha thrown around his shoulders gave up the snobbery of his urban counterpart and had no qualms in mouthing desi cuss words to lend authenticity to his character. Kashyap바카라s two-part Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), based on the bloody gang wars in the coal belt of undivided Bihar, set off a trend of rural dons. They have survived in the digital era and now have a brand new turf in web series, where they have unlimited liberty to shout the 바카라F바카라 word in unchaste Hindi, with no help whatsoever from Google translation.
The Underworld Don
Bollywood knew the underworld too closely to portray it realistically. The post-Mumbai-riots era threw up a phalanx of underworld dons onscreen, but only a few stood out. Ram Gopal Varma바카라s Satya (1998) turned out to be a trendsetter. Manoj Bajpayee stole the show with his epochal 바카라Mumbai ka king kaun바카라 character of Bhiku Mhatre in the film. Sanjay Dutt바카라s Vaastav (1999) followed suit and so did Varma바카라s next, Company (2002), which was said to be based on the bloody battles between the Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan gangs. The next decade witnessed obsession with Mumbai dons of all hues minus their meanness, before they began to gradually lose their mojo at the box office.
Shraddha Kapoor in Haseena Parkar
The Familywala Don
The portrayal of dons became fashionable in the new millennium as gangster flicks inspired filmmakers to take a closer look at real-life dons and the factotums and families surrounding them. Vivek Oberoi played gangster Maya Dolas in Shootout At Lokhandwala (2007) and Paritala Ravindra in Rakta Charitra (2010). John Abraham portrayed gangster Manya Surve in Shootout At Wadala (2013). Shraddha Kapoor played the title role of Dawood바카라s sister in Haseena Parkar (2017). Arjun Rampal played Arun Gawli in Daddy (2017). Even though many of these gangster movies did not click at the box office, filmmakers continue to get swayed by celluloid dons.
The Dawood-Lookalike Dons
Dawood Ibrahim, an admirer of Bollywood stars, loved to get clicked with them during cricket matches in Sharjah back in the 1980s. He has spawned quite a few clones on Bollywood screens over the years. The closest was the late Rishi Kapoor, who played Iqbal Seth, a Marathi-speaking don living in Pakistan with an unmistakable resemblance to the fugitive gangster, in D-Day (2013). Emraan Hashmi also played him in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai (2010). Vinod Khanna essayed Dawood earlier with his portrayal of a don who controls Mumbai from a distant location in Risk (2007). Otherwise obsessed with biopics, Bollywood, however, is yet to attempt one on the life and times o f the fugitive ganglord. But never mind, the legacy of dons, real or imagined, will thrive. Long live the onscreen don!
