‘Shamshera’: Sanjay Dutt shares why he loves playing the villain in films

If we talk about villains of the industry, it’s hard to miss out on Sanjay Dutt’s contribution. Be it ‘Khal Nayak’, Vaastav: The Reality’ or ‘Agneepath’, ‘K.G.F: Chapter 2’, Sanjay has won many hearts with his strong antagonist roles over the years. And now he is once again to show his wicked side with ‘Shamshera’.

Talking about the same, Sanjay said, “It is always exciting to play the antagonist because you get to bend the rules, break the rules. I realised that when you play the antagonist, there are actually impositions or moral boundaries. You can be disruptive. You can take a character from paper and play it the way you want to. I have a lot of fun when I play an antagonist and I’m fortunate that people have loved my performances as the nemesis of a hero so far.” On Wednesday, the makers of Shamshera unveiled the film’s trailer and since then netizens have been praising Sanjay for his spine-chilling act.

Opening up about his character, Sanjay shared, “Shudh Singh is a character that you have never seen on screen. He is just pure evil. He is menacing, he is untrustworthy and he will go to any length to wreak havoc. I loved the fact that Karan Malhotra created a villain like this and he thought of me to play this role. He gave me a free hand to bring Shudh Singh to life and I hope people like my effort.”

Sanjay was thrilled to know about the casting coup in Shamshera that pitted him against Ranbir Kapoor because four years back Ranbir had played Sanju.

“It is also quite interesting that I’m pitted against Ranbir, who played me in Sanju. So, the on-screen enmity between him and me becomes all the more interesting for people. Ranbir is a brilliant actor but this film sees him in a new gaze. His boyish charm is inimitable, but in this film, he is a man who finds his footing and looks glorious on screen,” he added.

Helmed by Karan Malhotra, ‘Shamshera’ is set in the fictitious city of Kaza, where a warrior tribe is imprisoned, enslaved and tortured by a ruthless authoritarian general Shudh Singh. This is the story of a man who became a slave, a slave who became a leader and then a legend for his tribe. He relentlessly fights for his tribe’s freedom and dignity. His name is Shamshera.

Produced by Aditya Chopra, ‘Shamshera’ is set to release in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu on July 22, 2022.