Amitabh Bachchan

Despite winning a National Film Award for his debut film ‘Saat Hindustani’ (1969), Amitabh Bachchan struggled for success during his initial years in Bollywood. However, Big B’s fortunes changed overnight in 1970s when he became the ‘angry young man’ of Indian cinema. It was Prakash Mehra’s ‘Zanjeer’ (1971), Yash Chopra’s ‘Deewar’ (1975) and ‘Trishul’ (1978) and Chandra Barot’s ‘Don’ (1978) that gave a new breed of superhero to Indian films – anti-hero, which continued for the decade to come.

Sanjay Dutt

Son of Bollywood actor Sunil Dutt and Nargis Dutt, Sanjay Dutt had a checkered life. Drug scene, TADA and what not, Sanjay was the perfect anti-hero material, a wish which materialised in Subhash Ghai’s ‘Khalnayak’ (1992), where he played a criminal with a heart of gold Ballu and in Mahesh Manjrekar’s ‘Vaastav’ (1999), where Sanjay once again reprised the role of a man who was a victim of circumstances. In ‘Vaastav’, Sanjay plays Raghu, who runs a pav-bhaji stall and accidentally kills a customer, who turns out to be the brother of a local goon.

Shah Rukh Khan

After dabbling in small screen with hit sitcoms like ‘Fauji’ (1988) and ‘Circus’ (1988), Delhi-based Shah Rukh Khan packed his bags and made his way to Bollywood. With his debut film ‘Deewana’ (1992) turning out to be a huge hit, SRK was arrived. Year 1993 was special for the actor as it was the same year when SRK’s negative roles as obsessed lover and anti-hero in films like ‘Baazigar’ (1993), ‘Darr’ (1993) were hugely successful and greatly appreciated. SRK reprised his anti-hero role in ‘Anjaam’ (1994) and ‘Don’ (2006).

John Abraham and Hrithik Roshan

Model turned actor John Abraham started his Bollywood innings with ‘Jism’ (2003), which was soon followed with his first commercial successful film ‘Dhoom’ (2004). A Yash Raj film, in ‘Dhoom’, John played Kabir, who is a part of high-flying motorcycle gang, which loves living on the edge, speed and thrill while breaking into banks and zipping off on high-octane sports bikes. ‘Dhoom’ was a huge hit and a range among youngsters. ‘Dhoom’ was followed by ‘Dhoom 2’ (2006) in which Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai starred in a negative role.

Saif Ali Khan

Bollywood’s chote nawab Saif Ali Khan made his debut with ‘Parampara’ (2002) and was seen in a spate of films where he played a charming lover boy. Saif’s breakthrough moment came in ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ (2001), a contemporary take at young India, which consolidated his position at the Box Office. Saif experimented with his looks and character in Sriram Raghavan’s thriller ‘Ek Hasina Thi’, Homi Adajania’s ‘Being Cyrus’ (2006) and Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Omkara’ (2006).

Emraan Hashmi

Emraan Hasmhi shot to fame with ‘Murder’ (2004) for its bold and explicit scenes. Emraan soon singed a couple of films like ‘Zeher’, ‘Aashiq Banaya Apne’, ‘Kalyug’, ‘Jannat’ and ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai’. Though Emraan struggled to find a solo hit, his grey shaded characters fared well in multi-star cast flicks, which were backed with chartbusters.

Shahid Kapoor

After starting his career with ad films and music videos, actor Pankaj Kapoor and Neelima Azeem’s son Shahid Kapoor made his debut in Ken Ghosh’s ‘Ishq Vishq’(2003) and was soon seen in films like ‘Dil Maange More’ (2004), ‘Vivah’ (2006), ‘Jab We Met’ (2007), ‘Dil Bole Hadippa’ (2009), ‘Chance Pe Dance’(2009) and ‘Badmaash Company’(2010). Shahid’s best performance was in Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Kaminey’ (2009), where he played double roles of Charlie Sharma and Guddu Sharma.

Arjun Rampal

After scorching the ramp, Arjun Rampal made his debut in Bollywood with ‘Moksha’ (2001). Though his debut was not a huge success, Arjun was lucky enough to get work in films like ‘Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat’ (2001), ‘Aankhen’ (2002), ‘Yakeen’ (2005), ‘Don’ (2006), ‘Rock On’ (2009). However, Arjun’s breakthrough film was ‘Om Shanti Om’ (2007), where he convincingly played the anti-hero - Mukesh Mehra.

Ajay Devgn

Bollywood’s most versatile hero, Ajay Devgn made his smashing debut in ‘Phool Aur Kaante’ (1991) and since then, has went from strength to strength, doing films across the genre – action, drama, comedy. Ajay starred in hits like ‘Jigar’ (1992), ‘Dilwale’ (1994), ‘Suhaag’ (1994), ‘Diljale’ (1996) and ‘Ishq’ (1997), ‘The Legend of Bhagat Singh’ (2002), ‘Khakee’, ‘Omkara’ (2006), Golmaal series, ‘Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai’ (2010) and ‘Raajneeti’ (2010).

Ajay’s two most notable films as anti-hero are ‘Khakee’ and ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai’, where he played serial killer Yashwant Angre and Mumbai smuggler Sultan Mirza respectively with great panache.

By Aman Kanth