9 Popular Telugu Heroes Who Turned Villains To Break The Stereotype

Yesteryear family hero and versatile actor Jagapathi Babu turned villain for Balakrishna's Legend. Though it was a surprise for the audience to know that the hero who did all the family-oriented roles is turning into a villain, Jaggu Bhai proved his calibre as a badass villain in the movie. His performance was highly appreciated by the critics and audience. Specialty of Jaggu Bhai is he can carry the sophisticated look of stylish yet powerful villain. This role marks a new beginning in his career as he received so many offers for the antagonist roles later. His success paved the way for many to pick negative roles.

He was known as the Angry Young man of Tollywood in 1980’s and 90’s. He has done a variety of roles including action and family dramas. He has won several awards but not many people know that he has won a Nandi Award for Best Villain for Talambralu movie in 1986. But later he was confined to lead roles. There were rumors that he will be debuting as the villain for his daughter’s movie but it was cancelled later. The movie director Sriwass confirmed that Rajasekhar is playing the antagonist in his upcoming movie in which Gopichand is playing the main lead.

Suman Talwar aka Suman was a well-known star in the 80's and early 90s. He has done several action and family-oriented films. He is remembered for his devotional roles as Venkateswara, Shiva and Rama. He made a comeback in the industry as a character artist. His role in Rajinikanth Sivaji as an antagonist brought him critical acclaim. He did a marvelous job as the baddie in the movie. After the success of the movie, he received several offers in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi. His recent film as an antagonist was Akshay Kumar’s Gabbar is Back.

Though Taraka Ratna had ample of opportunities and tried different roles he could not establish himself as star hero in Tollywood. Taraka Ratna followed the same principle like the others in this list and he turned villain for the movie Amaravathi in 2009. Surprisingly, the hero who was criticized for his poor acting skills received a Nandi Award for his performance as the villain. Later, he did antagonist role in the recent release Raja Cheyyi Vesthe. His menacing appearance as a villain in the film was well praised.

Gopichand started his career as a hero, after the failure of his debut he turned villain in Teja directed Jayam. His role in the movie as a baddie was well appreciated. His next role in Nijam is one of the most critically acclaimed roles of his career. Later he acted in Varsham as the main villain which turned out to be a big success. Currently, he has established himself as a hero and delivered few hits. He proved himself that he can fit into any bunch, hero or villain. Gopichand says he wouldn’t mind doing negative roles.

After the success of his debut film Leader, Rana has received praises all over. His hunk personality helped him get the chance to play the villain in Rajamouli’s Magnum Opus Baahubali. Rana as Bhallaladeva did a brilliant job. His acting skills received praises and applause which were on par with the lead actor, Prabhas. The second part of the movie is due for 2017, we will have to wait and see the viswaroopam of Rana as a badass villain. Though he had done several movies as a hero, it is the character of Bhallaladeva which made him a star in the Indian cinema.

Aryan Rajesh is the son of eminent director E.V.V Satyanarayana and the elder brother of Allari Naresh. The brothers chose different routes in the film career, Naresh took comic roles and Rajesh chose more of serious hero roles. Despite his handsome looks to be a hero even after 17 movies, only one turned out to be a hit. So, Rajesh took a break from acting and became a producer. According to the latest info he is making a comeback in the industry but this time as a villain. He is playing an antagonist role in an upcoming movie of Allari Naresh. We will have to wait and see how this will pan out for him.

Yesteryear hero Srikanth acted in more than 100 films and received several awards for his excellent performances. Though he started his career playing negative roles, once he became a hero he never looked back. Srikanth is playing an antagonist role in a Tamil director’s movie but the full details of the movie are yet to be revealed. Keeping in view of his role in Operation Duryodhana which had negative shades to it, we can expect a badass villain out of Srikanth.

Vadde Naveen acted in more than 30 films as the lead actor. Though he has given a handful of family entertainers and hits, the market became unreceptive for him. Following the trend of Jaggu Bhai, Naveen made a comeback in the film industry with Ram Gopal Varma movie Attack. His character in the movie had negative shades to it. Though the movie did not do well at the box office his performance was praised by critics. Following the suit of heroes becoming a villain to make their mark in the industry, Naveen is also showing interest in picking up negative roles instead of character roles.