Chiru, Balayya, Nag, Venky: A Look Back at Telugu Cinema's Big Four in Negative Roles

In last week's release Coolie , Akkineni Nagarjuna played a stylish villain whose savagery comes with an unexpected move involving Soubin Shahir's character. His equations with Rajinikanth's Deva are not static but dynamic. Lokesh Kanagaraj's treatment has impressed the audience. Incidentally, like Nag, his three other contemporaries among the Big Four have payed negative roles. TFN looks at those movies and characters: Chiranjeevi in Bandipotu Simham : Chiranjeevi played a powerful negative role as a One-Eyed Man and the leader of a gang of thieves. The film is a dubbed version of the Tamil movie Ranuva Veeran, where Chiranjeevi's character is a former college friend of the hero, played by Rajinikanth. His character's goal is to create a new world by robbing people, and he is eventually shot by his own son. Balakrishna in Sultan : Balakrishna played a dual role as Sultan and Prudhvi. Sultan is a ruthless terrorist, while Prudhvi is his identical twin brother, a forest officer. The film follows the story of a CBI officer who enlists Prudhvi's help to capture Sultan. Venkatesh in Nagavalli : Venkatesh played a dual role as a psychiatrist, Dr. Vijay, and as Raja Sri Sri Sri Naga Bhairava Rajshekhara. Dr. Vijay is called in to help a family that is being haunted by the spirit of Nagavalli, while the other role, Raja Naga Bhairava, is the king who burnt Nagavalli alive 125 years ago, which is the source of the curse. Also Read : Chai Wala Teaser: Feel-good tale with a coming-of-age father-son element Nagarjuna Teams Up with Kollywood Director for his 100th Movie