Mumbai, Jan 18 (IANS) The larger than life villain is making a comeback in Bollywood with “Agneepath”. Hindi movie lovers who grew up seeing Amjad Khan as Gabbar Singh and Amrish Puri as Mogambo may now have memories of a bygone era revived by Sanjay Dutt as Kancha Cheena, the scariest bad man in town.

Mean and menacing characters had almost disappeared from the Hindi film industry, but Sanjay is ready to send shivers down the spine of the audiences as the ruthless, cold-blooded Kancha in “Agneepath”, which is releasing on Republic Day. So much so that it scared the actor himself.

“I am not like Kancha in my real life. A few days back I was dubbing for the climax scene. After 15 minutes, I had to stop it and I said I want to go out. Karan Johar came and asked what happened. I said if I genuinely say something you will laugh. Actually, I can’t see myself like this. I got so scared of myself. I couldn’t believe that’s me,” the 51-year-old, who had played a baddie in “Khalnayak”, told IANS.

The actor claims Hindi film viewers have not seen someone as bad as Kancha so far.

Sanjay said: “There has never been a villian like Kancha in Bollywood. If you see superhero films Spiderman, Batman, the villians’ roles are so powerful that throughout the film the villain gives a tough time to the hero. It’s very nice that Karan had given it a thought that the villain should be larger than life and that nobody can stand in front of him.”

“Kancha Cheena is an unpredictable character. He has interpreted the Shri Bhagavad Geeta in his own way. It’s a very complex character. It is difficult to understand Kancha,” he added.

The original, which was directed by Mukul Anand, was produced by Yash Johar and the new version has been made by his son Karan Johar and debutant Karan Malhotra has helmed the movie.

In the original “Agneepath”, which came in the theatres in late 1990 amid loads of critical acclaim, Danny Denzongpa had played Kancha Cheena.

The promos of “Agneepath” have received a positive response and the item number “Chikni Chameli” from the movie has caught on like wildfire.

Sanjay was so impressed by Katrina Kaif’s performance in the song that he said, “I was shocked to see Katrina dancing the way she did. It was brilliant. She is used to Western dance and she was seen doing all Marathavad.”

Sanjay assures that though it’s a remake, the film will be different.

“The premise is the same. Vijay Deenanath Chahuhan is there in the film. His father has been killed by Kancha. It’s revenge and that too in a very real and a very rustic way,” Sanjay said.

Unlike other stars, Sanjay doesn’t hesitate to act his age and believes in accepting it and moving on.

“A person has to accept his age and move on. I am saying when you reach a certain age of maturity, you should accept that. If you are 48, you can play 40 years old, but you can’t play 20 years old.”

However, he believes age doesn’t restrict you from performing.

“Amitji (Bachchan) gets fantastic roles. What to do…I am a human being, I can’t be 25 for the rest of my life. If I try to be 25, people are going to laugh at me. Now I have to get the characters which have a meaning,” he said.

(Uma Ramasubramaniam can be contacted at uma.sagit@gmail.com)