Rajinikanth to Vijay Sethupathi: 10 Lead actors of Kollywood who played ruthless baddies

From sadist to serial killers, Kollywood has seen n number of villains. While classic villains of Kollywood starting from MN Nambiar of the black and white era to Prakash Raj of the recent times have made movies engaging when heroes turned villains, the film gets even more engaging. Here are the top 10 heroes of Kollywood who wore the hats of baddies.

1. Rajinikanth

Superstar of Kollywood, Rajinikanth started his career in entertainment as a villain. Even after becoming the king of Kollywood, fans of the actor are still seeing him as a baddie from time to time. Be it Parattayan in 16 Vayathinile or Vettaiyan Raja in Chandramukhi, Rajinikanth has delivered his best whenever he played villain roles. While his role as the main antagonist Chitti in Enthiran and its sequel 2.0 is the recent movies that saw Rajinikanth as villain, Karthik Subbaraj’s Petta had Rajinikanth in mild negative shade.

2. Kamal Haasan

Ulaga Nayagan Kamal Haasan has not played a baddie as frequently as Rajinikanth. However, his role as Nandu in Aalavandhan is one of the scariest villains of Kollywood. Nandu and his twin brother Vijayakumar (also played by Kamal Haasan) were ill-treated by their stepmother during their childhood. While Vijayakumar manages to come out of the childhood trauma, Nandu becomes a sadist. Directed by Suresh Krissna, Aalavandhan is one of the critically acclaimed Kollywood movies of all-time.

3. Vijay Sethupathi

Vijay Sethupathi is one of the versatile actors of Kollywood. Be it his character as Shilpa in Super Deluxe or his role as Veda in Vikram Veda, saw the actor playing the role of a baddie. In Karthik Subbaraj’s Petta too, VJS was shown as a goon. He will be next seen in Master directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. The Thalapathy Vijay starrer will also have Vijay Sethupathi as the main antagonist.

4. Ajith Kumar

Thala Ajith made his fans go gaga after he played the role of a bad, corrupt cop in the Venkat Prabhu directorial Mankatha. The film had an ensemble of cast list including Action King Arjun, Premgi Amaren, Vaibhav, Trisha, Rai Laxmi, Mahat among the others. The film was a huge hit at the Box Office and it was critically acclaimed too.

5. Prasanna

Popular Kollywood actor Prasanna, who is proving himself as a versatile actor, made an amazing villain in Arun Vijay starrer Mafia. The Karthik Naren directorial had Priya Bhavani Shankar as the female lead. Prasanna’s role as the baddie was lauded by Kollywood fans.

6. STR aka Simbu

While his recent film Chekka Chivandha Vaanam by Mani Ratnam had Simbu in a grey shade, the actor’s role in Manmadhan as a serial killer was one of the most-scared roles of Kollywood. He was seen in dual roles in the film – one as the lead actor and the other as the main antagonist.

7. Dhanush

Kollywood’s one of the most critically acclaimed actors is Dhanush. While his recent films Asuran and Vada Chennai have taken Tamil cinema to the next level, his role as a psychopath in the film Kadhal Kondaen is unforgettable. The Selva Raghavan directorial had Sonia Agarwal as the female lead and Dhanush was shown as a mentally disturbed kidnapper.

8. Vikram

Chiyaan Vikram, who is known for his unbelievable body transformations, played the main antagonist in Mani Ratnam’s Raavanan, which had Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Prithviraj as the lead actors. Vikram was seen as an evil kidnapper, who had similar qualities of Raavanan in the great Indian Mythology, Ramayan.

9. Arvind Swami

After his sabbatical for many years, Arvind Swami made a come-back to Kollywood in Kadal. After the film, it was his 2015 film Thani Oruvan that really changed the game for Arvind Swami in his career in entertainment. Playing the main antagonist in the film, Arvind Swami’s acting and stylish looks in the film made his fans go gaga for him yet again. Arvind Swami received many awards and accolades for his role as Siddharth Abhimanyu in Thani Oruvan.

10. Arjun

The Action King of Kollywood Arjun was often seen as a cop or as an army man, who would go to any extent to save the country from the clutches of terrorists. However, he has played some versatile roles in a lot of movies and his role as baddie in film Mankatha and Kadal are the most unforgettable ones.