Bollywood film industry is one of the leading film industries of the world with an audience reach throughout the globe. Although, the Indian film industry is the collaboration between different regional film industries within the country, the Hindi film industry, internationally known as Bollywood, stands out from the others and is always considered as the face of Indian cinema on the global front.
Completing more than 100 years of its existence, the Bollywood film industry has entertained its large group of audience with films from all kinds of genres. Other than being one of the largest film industries in the world, Bollywood is also one of the leading industries in terms of releasing films year after year. Although Bollywood is known for its larger than life cinema, songs, and dance numbers, one thing is often common with every Bollywood film.
Almost each and every character in the film is inspired by real-life professions in India, especially the main protagonist or the main lead cast of the film. While Hollywood depends on Superheroes to save the day, Bollywood has the confidence in the power of a normal human being, even though a bit exaggerated.
Today, we are going to discuss these popular professions played by the main lead of the film in Bollywood cinema.
Highly Famous Character Professions Seen in Bollywood Films
Police Officer
The No.1 on our list of popular character professions is the Police Officer. The character wasn’t explored in the early days of cinema but it got its peak during the 70s and 80s. Amitabh Bachchan got the title of Angry Young Man after acting as an honest and strict Police Officer in his first hit film Zanjeer. After Zanjeer, he reprised his role as a Police Office in several other hit films such as Parvarish, The Great Gambler, Dostana, Suhaag, Khakhi, Shehenshah, Inquilaab, Aakhri Raasta and many others.
He was remarkable as a Police Officer in the films. Another actor, who played the role perfectly, was Akshay Kumar in some of his hit films like Main Khiladi Tu Anadi, Mohra, Khakhi, and few others. Jackie Shroff wasn’t far behind either as he donned this character in some back to back hit films during the 90s. The popular ones among them were Ram Lakhan and Izzat. The role of a Police Officer was highly dominated by the Actors; however, there were a few iron ladies in Bollywood who played the part pretty well.
College Student
Bollywood films are often woven around romance irrespective of the genre of the film. And, the best place for a budding romance was considered to be the college during the 90s until the new millennium. Many romantic films, as well as action films, were based within the college campus and the main lead cast were often seen playing the role of young college students.
None of the actors dominated this character as one must look young to play a college student and the actors lose the youthfulness after some years. Yet, a few actors played the character of a college student perfectly in films like Dil, Khiladi, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Shiva, Jaan Tere Naam, Tezaab, and many others.
Also Read : Movies about Friendship and Friends
Singer/Dancer/Performer
As explained earlier, Bollywood films are highly based on a screenplay that includes a romantic angle. And, what’s a romance in Bollywood films without songs and dance? Well, almost every main lead character in Bollywood films are portrayed as trained singers and dancers, yet there are also specific characters developed for the professional singer, dancers or performers as well. You can read our post about Best Movies about Music and Musicians.
One of the iconic examples of this can be seen in the 1990 film Aashiqui, where the main lead Rahul Roy played the character of a struggling singer, who helps his love interest played by Anu Aggarwal to become a model. Besides that, there are many other films where the main lead played the role of an artist, mostly a singer, and the plot of the film revolved around that character. Some examples are Amitabh Bachchan in Yaarana, Hema Malini in Naseeb, Rishi Kapoor in Karz, Rina Roy in Asha, Mithun Chakraborty in Disco Dancer (1982), and many others.
Soldier
There’s no real life hero better than a soldier. Hence, it is pretty much logical that several characters in Bollywood films are based on soldiers. Take the 1997 film Border for instance. There’s no better actor than Sunny Deol, who played an Army Major in the film.
Another actor, who dons the role of an Army man, is none other than Sunny’s father Dharmendra. The veteran actor has played the role of a soldier in films like Haqeeqat (1964) and Lalkaar (1972). Akshay Kumar has also played the character of soldier well in films like Sainik (1993) and Holiday (2014).
Although the tough character is highly dominated by Bollywood action heroes, it hasn’t been the same all the time. The current king of romance, who launched his acting career playing a young soldier in Fauji, has portrayed the role of an Indian soldier in blockbusters like Main Hoon Na (2004), Veer-Zaara (2004), and Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012).
Bandit /Dacoit
Well, who can forget the iconic character of Gabbar Singh played by Amjad Khan in one of the legendary film of Bollywood, the 1975 Sholay. There are bandits or dacoits played in Hindi cinema before and after Gabbar Singh, but none of them got the same response or popularity as the ace villain of Bollywood cinema. The legend of this character was also followed in several films within songs, dialogues, costumes, and many other ways.
Not just in the villainous role, but the character of Bandit or Dacoit has been portrayed by the main protagonist of the films as well. The 1978 film Saugandh starred Amitabh Bachchan as a dacoit. Action hero Dharmendra is known to have played a dacoit in many different movies throughout his career. Some of the formable mentions include the 1982 films Badle Ki Aag and Rajput. Seema Biswas as Phoolan devi in Bandit Queen and Irrfan Khan as Paan Singh Tomar.
Gangster
The yesteryear Bandit or Dacoit is replaced by the inclusion of Gangster character in modern cinema. Although, several films during the classic era to the 70s and 80s era featured Gangster or Underworld Mafia characters in different avatars, the trend changed gears during the 90s and became an essential element of Bollywood cinema.
The character got recognition after the 1978 film Don, where Amitabh Bachchan played the title role. However, it was only during the 90s, when films like Shiva (1990), Parinda (1989), and Satya (1998) explored the underworld mafia spread across India with the headquarters set up in Mumbai.
The Gangster characters portrayed in the film during the 90s were often shown as the protagonist. However, in the new millennium after the heroics of Mumbai Police washed the streets of the city from Underworld Mafia, Bollywood featured Gangsters in their real light. The majority of these films were based on the D-Company created by India’s Most Wanted Dawood Ibrahim.
Films like Company (2002) featured Ajay Devgn and Vivek Oberoi as Underworld Gangsters, whereas the Munnabhai film series featured Sanjay Dutt as a reformed Gangster. However, the best portrayal of the Gangster character must go to Sanjay Dutt’s portrayal of Raghu in the 1999 film Vaastav: The Reality.
Conman/Thief/Pickpocket
Bollywood has this nag of portraying the main lead or protagonist of the film in the wrong business. Whether it’s a gangster, mafia don, roadside rowdy or a conman in the streets, there a good number of films that have tried to show these characters in good light digging deeper into their lives.
The trend of including such characters goes back to the 60s era in Bollywood. Whether it’s Raj Kapoor in Shree 420 (1955) and Awaara (1951) or Dev Anand in Jewel Thief, both these star actors of the classic era proved their mantle as the conman in these movies.
But, the actor who played the role of a conman to perfection is none other than the Shehenshah of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan. His portrayal of Jay in Sholay (1975), Shankar in Nastik (1983), and Natwar in Mr. Natwarlal (1979) were just a few examples.
Although the character is popular as conman, Bollywood also has its share of con woman in several films. Whether it’s Hema Malini in Johny Mera Naam (1970) and Dus Numbri (1976), Neetu Singh and Shabana Azmi in Parvarish (1977), Rani Mukerji in Bunty Aur Babli (2005) and many others, the role is played successfully by many ace actresses of almost every era.
Teacher/Professor
Another most popular character profession seen in Bollywood is the teacher or professor. This profession has been widely used in Bollywood since its beginning as the teacher or the professor is often portrayed as an inspirational or motivational character of the film. These characters are highly famous in the drama, romance and comedy genre of Bollywood.
The character is best portrayed by Vinod Khanna in the 1974 film Imtihan, where he plays Professor Pramod Sharma and reforms his students through ethical norms. Another memorable character of a teacher was portrayed by Jeetendra in Parichay (1972), where he becomes the home tutor of some naughty kids and tames them with love and good teaching.
Even though both Jeetendra and Vinod Khanna’s characters were one of the best, it was Naseeruddin Shah’s performance in Sir (1993) that created a huge impact among the audience and generated respect of teachers or college professors.
Besides drama, there are few examples of comedy films, where the main protagonist played the teachers/professors. These films are Chupke Chupke (1975) starring Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan as professors and Do Aur Do Paanch (1980) starring Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, and Shashi Kapoor as teachers.
Farmer/Villager
India is a land of farmers and soldiers, which is why we have the saying, “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan”. And that’s also the reason why you see films themed around farming and farmers. The trend is slowly dying in the industry; however, the trend was blooming during classic era of Bollywood right the time of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand. All three of them have worked in several films portraying as a farmer or a villager.
Whether it was Dilip Kumar in Mela (1948), Raj Kapoor in Jagte Raho (1956) and Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960), Nargis in Mother India (1957), Manoj Kumar in Upkar (1967) or Dev Anand in Des Pardes (1978), these veteran actors created the platform to honour the farmers and villagers of India.
The trend was later followed by the next generation of actors like Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna and Jeetendra. Actresses weren’t far behind either. During this era, a lot of films were made around the budding romance between a rich boy and village girl.
Actresses from Hema Malini to Juhi Chawla have played the character of a village girl with pure innocence and sincerity. Although the trend has almost diminished in Bollywood, there are few films made around similar theme without much success.
Also Read : Bollywood Movies about the life of Farmers
Lawyer
This is an another profession used in Bollywood Movies, there are many films on Courtroom Drama and Lawyers. Movies on lawyers are engaging and interesting. The conversation between two lawyers and using facts and theories in courtroom makes such films interesting, thats why writers write such scripts for Indian Audience.
There are many iconic films on this profession, You can never forget the brillian performance by Sunny Deol as a Lawyer in Damini or Anil Kapoor in meri Jung. Recently for the first time, we saw Amitabh Bachchan as an old Lawyer in Pink 2016 Film.
A Common Man
Finally, as usual, we have saved the best for the last. Well, India is a land of simple people with simple lives. The country is full of common people living simple lives facing almost similar problems in their day-to-day lives. Bollywood has always favoured this aspect of living in India and has often featured the struggles of a common man on the big screen. There are plenty of examples in Bollywood, where the main protagonist is not a larger than life character, but a common man like us.
Some of the legendary roles that need a mention include Dilip Kumar in Shaheed (1948), Amitabh Bachchan in Majboor (1974) and Laawaris (1981), Rajesh Khanna in Anand (1971) and Aap Ki Kasam (1974), Amol Palekar in Gol Maal (1979), Naseeruddin Shah in Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron (1983) and A Wednesday (2008), Irrfan Khan in The Lunchbox (2013), Paresh Rawal in OMG - Oh My God! (2012) and several others.
Also Read : Bollywood movies about CommonMan
Your Turn!
Share, your favorite profession used in Bollywood Movies or Indian Film Industry.
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