The much-anticipated film Shaan, released in the year 1980 was to be Ramesh Sippy’s next magnum opus after the superhit Sholay. The film sadly did not do too well, but its villain, Shakaal remains one of Hindi cinema’s best-known villains till date. The bald, soft spoken, shark-loving Shakaal was essayed by Kulbhushan Kharbanda, till then largely seen only in what was called parallel cinema. Shaan was Kharbanda’s first out-and-out villainous role. He shaved his head to a smooth finish, donned a Nehru jacket, and perched himself on a throne with flashing buttons all around, to operate fantastic gizmos.
But did you know that Shakaal, the villain was modelled on a comic book character, you and me are very familiar with. Well the comic book character that we are talking about is Roberto Rastapopoulos, a reoccurring character in ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ comic book series. A Greek by birth, he is a ruthless man who has amassed a huge fortune, possesses an island home where he lives and conducts his nefarious activities. Similarly, Shakaal also owns a deserted island only accessible by helicopter, sports his own designer monogram (Rasta also has his own) and has an enviable collection of fancy gadgets at his fingertips, just like Rastapopoulos.
He accesses footage of his stooges and visitors through an elaborate closed-circuit camera system (which was rather unknown in those days). Rastapopoulos did the same exact thing in ‘Tintin & the Lake of Sharks’. Both, sat in front of a screen showcasing swimming sharks. Retracting platforms, sensor-controlled doors shown in Shaan were a novelty, a first in Indian cinema and one can see the same thing in the above mentioned Tintin comic book. One school of thought, says that Shaakal was loosely based on Blofeld, the villain in the James Bond flick You Only Live Twice which is also partly believable. Kharbanda’s manner, was surely Blofeld-like.
He spoke softly, but meant business every time. Shaan, unfortunately for Sippy and his team, did not go on to become the blockbuster they had expected it to be, given its huge star cast and humongous cost — it was the most expensive film made in India till that point. But while the film flopped, Kharbanda played the defining role of his career. Even if the character was inspired by Blofeld or Rasta, Kharbanda’s voice and demeanour gave Shakaal a touch of originality. Fans loved him, and Shakaal went straight into the hall of villainy fame.
Hardeep Singh Chandpuri is a Radio personality, prolific writer and publisher.
