I am going to get the obvious one out of the way. Lets face it, we watched Thani Oruvan just for this guy. He is the one who brought people to theaters, he is the one who kept them there.
My all time favorite villain was Kalabhavan Mani in ‘Kuthu’ , the Tamil remake of VV Vinayak’s ‘Dil’. The funny thing about this was, Mani who was the villain turned out to be the the savior of this film while Simbhu who played the yawn-worthy hero actually did more damage to the movie. Sheesh. Mani was taken from us too soon. Watching this now is harder than it used to be earlier.
One of the most iconic Tamil villains of all time should be Vijay Sethupathy’s Vedha in the surprise blockbuster Vikram Vedha. Everything about this role was done to perfection. His younger self, his ruthlessness, dark humor and his swagger - everything was on point.
While his unusual mannerism and voice modulations were nothing new to Telugu audiences, Tamils were in for a pleasant surprise when Kota Srinivasa Rao donned the role of Perumal Pichai in Hari’s ‘Saamy’. The role brought so much character and interest to the film making it the momerable masala movie that we now know it as.
While everyone liked his role in Mahanadi, cementing him as the most cunning of all villains in the 90s, I loved VMC Hanifa’s role in Pattiyal. The very aspect of him being a traitor out-foxing pretty much everyone in the film leading to that climax made me love the depth he could bring to a role even when he underplayed it.
One could argue that he was technically not the villain in this film. But without Yog Japee’s Brahmma - Soodhu Kavvum would have just been another attempt at a dark humour film. Instead his mute portrayal of a psychotic policeman took the offbeat film to top ten lists everywhere.
Bobby Simha has come under a lot of flak for imitating Rajni in recent times. But turning the clock back to 2014, he was the life of Karthik Subburaj’s dream project Jigarthanda. The film was placed squarely on his shoulders with the meaty role of Assault sethu. Simha set the screen on fire with one of the best villain performances of the decade. The fact that this role should have gone to Vijay Sethupathy makes it even more awesome.
Once again, while Kannada audiences know pretty damn well that Kichcha Sudeepa is capable of awesomeness, Tamil audiences were blown away when they walked into a bland-sounding movie about a housefly directed by someone named SS Rajamouli, who was apparently(!) popular in Telugu. What they got was an unforgettable action entertainer with possibly Rajamouli’s most detailed screenplay ever. The entire film was just Sudeep steam-rolling through one of the best performances of his career.
What do you get when you take a role based on Veerapan, lace with ample masala, venomous dialogue and cast Mansura Ali Khan in it? You get a career-defining performance and a Vijayakanth-Selvamani movie for the ages. If you wanted to give nightmares to kids back in the 90s, you didn’t tell them about the boogeyman, you spoke about this dude.
I am taking one more slot for my love of Mani. While ‘Vel’ proved to be nothing more than another Hari-flavoured masala ride. Mani once again took the role of his villainy to next level mixing it with fiery dialogues, comedy and eccentricity. Esp the sequence that I have pasted the below pic from had me rolling on the floor. Man I miss this guy.
One of the most stylish portrayals of villainy came unsurprisingly from Mani Ratnam in this cult classic Thiruda Thiruda. Salim Ghouse’s TT Vikram was a villain on whom many other international Tamil villains were then modeled after. His performance and the importance that was given to the role by Mani made me feel like I was watching some Desi hollywood movie. The film wasn’t received well when it released, but has gone on to become a re-watch worthy entertainer thanks to Rahman and SPB. Yes SPB.
There is no way I am writing an answer without the mention of Raghuvaran’s role in Baasha. In a film that simply refuses to leave our memory and lists, a film that is a peak for Rajni himself - the role of Antony almost over-shadowed everything else. That speaks volumes about how cool this role was. The moment this film hit the screens, the benchmark for villainy in Tamil cinema went many notches higher. Unforgettable role from an unforgettable actor.
And lets end it on that high!