Teenage chocolate boy hero Imran Khan, fresh from the success of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, is all set to change his image and play a villainous character in his next movie, Kidnap.

In Kidnap, he plays a goon who kidnaps Minisha Llamba and demands ransom from her father, a multi millionaire played by Sunjay Dutt.

“I wanted a boyish actor and when I cast Imran, I didn’t think he was the drop-dead good-looking type like Aamir, Salman or Hrithik,” said Sanjay Gadhvi, director, in an interview. Imran has an interesting personality. The menacing look Imran sports — tan, tattoo, grimaces and all — is generating interest in his character, Kabir.

This is now a growing trend — the hero with shades of grey. What would have been considered a career suicide till a few years ago is now a USP. The new-age Hindi film actor, right from John Abraham and Hrithik Roshan to Neil Nitin Mukesh, is not afraid to play the baddie anymore. But this has also meant that the typical villain of yore — a
stereotype played by the likes of Prem Chopra and Pran — is dead.

Mainstream stars like Aamir Khan (in 1947 Earth), Akshay Kumar (in Ajnabee), Ajay Devgan (in Khakee) and even Amitabh Bachchan (in Aankhen and Aag) performed negative roles with style.. Gadhvi’s Dhoom series had John Abraham and Hrithik Roshan play the bad guy with an attitude and style that won them more fans than the hero’s character in these films. “It’s juicier for a director to have both the protagonist and antagonist played by stars. The conflict that emanates out of it takes a film to another level,” admits Gadhvi.

Interestingly, with Kidnap, Imran is following in uncle Aamir Khan’ s footsteps. The latter had followed his debut in romantic pic, Quayamat Se Quayamat Tak with a negative role in Raakh.