The Anti-Hero

There has been a slow and steady change in the depiction of protagonists in today’s age. Gone are the days when the heroes worshipped by millions was a sensitive,virtuous, courageous and an upholder of justice. To sum his/her characteristics would be simple in just three words. Kind-hearted Sods. They would predominate every story laid out before the world and they usually ended up being ass-kissing pricks who would make the Subway Ham and cheese melt to soggy up in shame. Depictions of characters would always be a notch above the current social trends. In the celluloid world, the British rulers were often over-characterized as ruthless, sadistic white men who spoke Goan Hindi. The antagonists would usually be an infamous Thakur known for his expressions during rape scenes. A closer look at publications of the past century reveals, It often was filthy evil rich persons Vs glorified honest slum dwellers. In mind Premchand.

Such a depiction may not have been entirely wrong but it certainly wasn’t as dramatic as Prem Chopra’s rape scenes and Tom Alter committing genocide and mass murder until a valiant Dharmpaji socks him good after the usual vampiric threats.


I never truly believed that the entire world changes when 1999 becomes 2000. But in a way it did. The social values that had been quite firmly in place until December 31st 1999 magically changed to on 1st Jan 2000. It’s not that social values had been done away with altogether. They simply changed with time. This millennium brought in a new set of social icons and public figures. They were a slightly more realistic cariacature of each one of us. They reflected the simple evil that lay in all of us. Each media and other modes of public communication brought out it’s own likeable anti-hero. The word anti-hero is a breakthrough in itself. Anti-Hero is not a person against the hero, He’s just someone who in spite of being the protagonist does not wear the shoes of a conventional hero.

Now, 9 years later. The evidence is strewn all over the world. Tinkle, a popular children’s comic often depicted child stories which shamelessly advertised virtues of honesty, sharing and truthfulness. Today, they often depict pesky kids as protagonists who play wicked pranks on elderly gentlemen. In the celluloid world where Dharmendra once played an honest cop in pursuit of a gang that smuggles Charas, Abhay Deol is equally popular snorting those coke lines on screen in Dev D. The above statement is not a comparison to the degeneration of popular media but it merely endeavours to highlight on the change of social trends and their acceptance.

We liked our heroes back in the day but today we somehow like our anti-heroes better. At least for now.