From Amitabh Bachchan to Saif Ali Khan, many leading men have played second leads, and yet weren't lost on the big screen A fortnight ago, I wrote about those gutsy actresses who played certain second-lead roles with such vim and gusto, that they just could not be labelled 'second best'. This week, I am writing about the males of the species heroes who played a second lead but packed a power punch into their role. Contemporary actors have sagely learnt the value of strong characters over footage-rich roles. So you have Shah Rukh Khan playing a secondary character to Irrfan Khan in Billu; Aamir Khan making an appearance only towards the interval in Taare Zameen Par and Akshay Kumar showing up well after Bhool Bhulaiya gets underway. But these actors are standing on the shoulders of giants; they have taken a leaf from the books of previous actors, who have conclusively proved that a relatively small role can also cast a long shadow. <img alt="" src="/imagedata/2009/jun/absecond.jpg" align="right" border="5" />I would like to take a cue from the preface Amitabh Bachchan penned for my book, The Hundred Luminaries Of Hindi Cinema. He wrote, "Shatrughan Sinha and Vinod Khanna were path-breakers in the sense that they began as traditional villains and went on to become leading heroes. It's a phenomenal achievement which one cannot overemphasize." Vinod and Shatru's crossover success is easy to figure. Their presence in the early 1970s sent waves of energy through a film no matter what their role. Raj Khosla's dacoit drama Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971) is oven fresh in my memory. As the scowling bandit with blood lust in his eyes, Vinod Khanna was the perfect dark-hued foil to straight-backed Dharmendra. And despite Rajesh Khanna being at the crest of his popularity in Aan Milo Sajna and Sachha Jhootha, Vinod Khanna held his ground even as the villain and cornered enough female attention. I remember the late veteran Nadira going into exaggerated raptures each time she spoke about Vinod's looks. In fact, Vinod's ability to floor girls with his smile, cleft chin and machismo was evident from his very first film u2014 the Sunil Dutt-produced Man Ka Meet (1968). It was made by Dutt primarily to launch his brother Som Dutt as hero but it was villain Vinod Khanna who wowed the audience.u00a0 Vinod's contemporary and co-star in quite a few films, Shatrughan Sinha also dared to tread the unbeaten track. Instead of waiting for hero roles to come his way as a newcomer, he chose to smartly skewer the leading men by shrewdly exploiting his raucous voice and explosive dialogue delivery. Soon, as proof of his popularity, Shatrughan Sinha claimed that Manmohan Desai was forced to heed the distributors and incorporate his reformation scene in the Jeetendra starrer Bhai Ho To Aisa (1972) because "the public could no longer accept me as an outright villain." Shatru's cheesy crowd-pleasing frantic antics were popular. In another Mamnohan Desai-Shatru film, Rampur Ka Lakshman, Randhir Kapoor was the conventional hero who gets the gal (Rekha). But about the only thing I remember with great clarity from this film I saw as a child is this scene Shatru lands sledgehammer punches on two henchmen u2026 and then exaggeratedly checks his wristwatch to see if it was still working after his knockout blows! Gimmicky, no doubt, but the audience loved it.u00a0 Amitabh Bachchan too has benefited from strong second leads in the early stages of his career. Parwana (1971), a murder mystery starring Navin Nischol-Yogeeta Bali-Amitabh, has been long confined by most people to the memory file marked 'Almost Forgotten'. But I do remember it for two reasons. Firstly, because when I was engaged 12 years later, I dedicated a song from this film, 'Simti si sharmayee si kis duniya se tum aayee ho' to my fiancu00e9e Anita; and secondly, because the villain's role essayed by Amitabh Bachchan was a standout. Amitabh's co-star in the film, Om Prakash was so impressed he began heralding the arrival of a very good actor much before the rushes of the film were out. I rank Amitabh's performance as Babu Moshai in Anand (Rajesh Khanna memorably played the title role) amongst his most perceptive; but it was two years later, in another supporting role to Rajesh Khanna (Namak Haram), that Amitabh conclusively cornered the hosannas. Rajesh Khanna has said: "When I saw Namak Haram at a trial, I told Hrishida 'here is the superstar of tomorrow.' Despite then-superstar Rajesh Khanna cornering the sympathy jackpot in the death sequence, Amitabh aced this Hrishikesh Mukherjee film as Rajesh's explosively intense, morally conflicted frenemy (to borrow an SMS era phrase).u00a0u00a0 Ironically, Khanna had subjected the megastar preceding him, Shammi Kapoor, to a similar predicament. Shammi's career was ebbing when he did Ramesh Sippy's Andaaz, a mature romance between a widow (Hema) and widower (Shammi Kapoor). But the final prick in Shammi's deflating career was provided by Rajesh Khanna in a cameo in Andaaz. Sported a scarf, tilting his glares and head, and zooming on the bike, yodeling, 'Zindagi ek safar hai suhana, yahan kal kya ho kissne jaana' Khanna drove away with most of Shammi's legions of fans. When strong supporting roles are talked about, mention must be made of the Raja of Rhetoric, Raaj Kumar, alias Jaani, who was at his bombastic best in sixties fare such as Waqt and Humraaz in which straight arrow Sunil Dutt had the earnest role with the songs.u00a0u00a0 Interestingly, Sunil Dutt rose like a Phoenix from the ashes of his go-nowhere career in the early 1970s because of a second lead role. In late 1973-early 1974, he had twin successes Heera in which he played the lead, and Geeta Mera Naam in which he took on a role for which villain Prem Chopra had been considered! After playing Sadhana's lover in the megahits Waqt and Mera Saaya, Sunil agreed to play her brother in Geeta Mera Naam because he was sitting on a heap of debts. But as the unfeeling villain who reduced living beings to wax figures, he outsparkled the cast and regained his stardom. Several heroes have engendered true-blue stardom from the often euphemistically labelled parallel role. Shashi Kapoor's career got an extended lease because of his willingness to play buddy and onscreen partner to reigning superstar Amitabh. Shashi worked with him in half a dozen films including Namak Halal, Deewar, Suhaag, Kabhie Kabhie and Silsila. Constant co-star Moushumi Chatterjee recalls, "Shashi Kapoor didn't concern himself with other heroes, he did what was given to him to the best of his ability." Before "baby"-ing me off, Moushumi suggested, "In your list of impactful second leads, don't forget to mention Sunny Deol as the lawyer in Damini."u00a0 I haven't. Sunny may have made his appearance in the second half of this Rishi Kapoor-Meenaskhi starrer but in a National Award-winning performance, he had the audience rooting for him with his Stentorian lungs forcefully screaming in court, "Tareekh par tareekh, tareekh par tareekh, tareekh par tareekh, tareekh par tareekh milti rahee hai lekin insaaf nahee mila, my lord. Insaaf nahee mila. Mili hai toh sirf yeh tareekh.' Sunny's contemporaries, Anil (Biwi No 1, Taal ) and Jackie Shroff (1942, A Love Story, Rangeela) too have scored big in second leads. I recall at the premiere of 1942 A Love Story held at Metro, the audience broke into spontaneous applause the moment Jackie loomed large on screen as Manisha's saviour in an impactful scene. Finally, an actor is only as good as his material. The potency of the role is directly related to an actor's ability to register an impact. In a rare instance, Satya had a hero (Chekravarty) playing the title role, yet Manoj Bajpai, who played Bhiku Mhatre, swanked the carpet from below Chekri's feet. To be fair to Chekri, the film may have been his story, but as his partner-in-crime Manoj Bajpai had the author-backed, crowd-pleasing role as a man who manages to enjoy life amidst the bead-sweat desperation of a life of crime. If Bhiku Mhatre made Manoj's career, Arshad Warsi's life was alchemised by the role of Circuit in the Munnabhai series. Arshad was as good a foil to Sanjay Dutt as Laurel to Hardy, Terence Hill to Bud Spencer, Abbot to Costello. Warsi's natural propensity for the tapori language and his ability to nail every laugh made Circuit's comedy high wattage. More recently, Saif has flourished as the second lead in Dil Chahta Hai, Kal Ho Na Ho et al. Another triumph was his secondary (arguably so, since it sparked off a debate in the our office) role to Ajay Devgan playing the titular Omkara who could have imagined the city slicker could be convincing as a hobbling, abuse-spewing, rustic! By now, actors have realised this truism as validated by Neil's gung ho approach to the second lead in New York a role's total impact is more than just the sum of the footage.

From Amitabh Bachchan to Saif Ali Khan, many leading men have played second leads, and yet weren't lost on the big screen

Small roles, long shadow

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Small roles, long shadow

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