Dark. Menacing. Evil. These Tollywood heroes don���t shy away from showing off their grey side

Playing the villain seems to be in. In the last couple of weeks, established heroes like Sudheer Babu, Aadi Pinisetty and Suriya made headlines for their hitherto unseen villainous transformations on-screen. Sudheer Babu shot into national reckoning with his baddie act in Tiger Shroff���s Baaghi. Aadi Pinisetty rocked the bad boy vibe with his ���silent yet violent��� act as the spoilt son of a chief minister in Allu Arjun���s Sarrainodu.And then you had Tamil superstar Suriya who left the audience asking for more with his portrayal of the menacing, wheelchair-bound scientist Athreya in 24. It���s pretty obvious. mana heroes aren���t content sticking to the good guy roles anymore. And from what the actors say, it does look like the ternd is here to stay.
Sudheer Babu: Flexing his six pack abs, showing off those martial art moves, sporting some oh-so-trendy clothes, all the while keeping the malicious attitude of the antagonist intact, Sudheer Babu garnered a lot of attention ever since the trailer of Baaghi released. His role as a shrewd punk, Raghav, struck all the right chords. ���I took up this role because it was not just challenging, but also a way of expanding my horizons. As an actor, I should be able to play any kind of role with ease. I���d rather be recognised as an actor than a protagonist or antagonist because that doesn���t really matter.���
Rana Daggubati: Giving three precious years of your career to do just one film, that too, to play a villain, might see like a gamble for a hero who���s still finding his feet. But Rana Daggubati did just that with B��hubali, in which he played the cruel cousin who usurps the throne from its rightful heir. Rana admits he never had second thoughts about playing the villain. ���I am an epic villain, not an epic hero. I have the distinction of being part of Telugu cinema���s biggest film, so I took up the role of the antagonist without second thoughts,��� he said, adding, ���You'll see me in an avatar which is meaner and more villainous in the sequel.���
Suriya: Athreya, a role that is being appreciated as one of the most intense negative roles in the recent times, gave Suriya a makeover ��� both literally and figuratively! His role as the evil twin in 24 took the audience by surprise. This was Suriya like they���ve never seen before. Talking of his mean act in the film, Suriya says, ���It was a challenging role since I���ve never played an evil guy before. And I didn���t have to be bad; I had to be evil to pull off the role convincingly. Make-up and hairdo took care of one part of the role; for the rest, I simply dipped into my childhood memory of being my brother Karthi���s evil bully.��� (laughs)
Aadi Pinisetty: Despite his earlier stints as a hero in Tollywood, it was with his dark act as Vairam Dhanush, the rich, spoilt brat in Sarrainodu, that Aadi Pinisetty made an impact. In fact, he left a lot of female audiences with heart-eyes. His chic act and sleek styling complemented his tall dark and handsome appearance. And he seemed to have put some thought into this role. ���Things are changing. The thought that an actor should only be a hero has changed. Audiences are choosing to see their favourite actor in different shades. And as far as it comes to me playing a negative role, I wanted to do it so I did.���