With the death of Pran, a chapter of Bollywood has come to an end - a chapter where the villain in Bollywood has had as magnificent a journey as the hero. While the early 50s and 60s belonged to Pran, the 70s can't be complete without Amjad Khan, who started his villainous ways with Gabbar Singh in 'Sholay' (1975). And in the mid-80s, arrived Amrish Puri's despotic Mogambo in 'Mr India' (1987).

Though all the three actors crossed over to positive roles, Pran and Amrish had a better run with good roles as compared to Amjad (Yaarana in 1981, Love in 1991). While Pran's transition towards good (Shaheed in 1965, Upkar in 1967) was said to be willful, it's believed to be more of a professional compulsion for Amrish, who did it with aplomb in films like Gardish (1993) and DilwaleDulhania Le Jayenge (1995). Reason being that by the mid 90s, in the wake of NRI romances and social dramas, the larger than life villain had begun to disappear. As Mahesh Bhatt points out, "The days of baddies pitched fiercely opposite good has kind of faded with time. As the audience matures and innocence is lost, the larger-than-life evil character that appeared like a comic book villain was lost."

In the same vein, Javed Akhtar adds, "Perhaps, there is no burning passion in heroes. Films are made on different notes, the hero is not strong, not angry. He is romantic and light-hearted, so we haven't had larger-than-life villains for a long time now." With all the three great pillars of Bollywood villainy gone with Pran being the last (though he was the seniormost) a question looms large — Will Bollywood have another equally strong and menacing villain?

Pran's sideways smile and sheer glance struck fear in many hearts. Legend has it that parents stopped naming their children 'Pran' fearing that they would grow up to be villainous devils. As for Amjad's villainy, a popular fable from that era goes that when children would refuse to sleep, their mothers would tell them to hush or else they would call Gabbar Singh to take them away. And post Amrish's Mogambo, it became mandatory to have one villain in every film.

After these three, there have been some villains in Bollywood. But one name stands out: 'Bad Man' Gulshan Grover, who played the baddie in many movies, with varied getups. His Kesariya Vilayati in Ram Lakhan (1989) was one of his most famous 'bad man' characters.

With action films in vogue, so much so that Ghajini (2008), perhaps the only film named after the villain becoming a big hit, and Dabangg (2010), there seems to be hope. By all indications, Prakash Raj (Wanted, Singham, Dabangg 2) and Sonu Sood (Dabangg, Shootout At Wadala), seem to be heading in that direction. And for all you know, with Aamir Khan playing the anti-hero in one of Bollywood's biggest franchises, there could be a new trend of top heroes turning into top villains. — TOI