Ever since I saw Via Darjeeling, I’ve had this thought. In every movie that I’ve seen, the hero has to be victorious at the end. The villain never wins.
Of course, there are movies with tragic endings, where the hero dies in the end, but its always due to life circumstances than the villain in particular. Also, in Bollywood multi starrer movies of yore, whenever the number of heroines was lesser than the heroes, one hero was destined to die somewhere before the end. Sholay like scenarios, where its technically impossible for the hero and heroine to get hitched, are also included in this. There are also side heroes who end up martyrs. Add to this, the various instances of heroine/brother/mother/ human friend/ dog friend etc taking revenge on the villain (the last one was specifically included for Teri Meherbaniyan) and you never see the villain win. Anti heroes always have a justification.
We obviously don’t have a problem with unhappy endings. There are umpteen number of films that have become hits thanks to the hero’s tragic death in the end. So what makes films shy away from endings with a triumphant villain? Is it a self created rule to make sure that good always wins in good vs evil? Because people watch films as an escape from real life, and cannot digest real life on reel life? Why can’t we digest endings where a villain wins?
So will you pay to watch a movie where the villain wins in the end, or will you stay away because you’d feel cheated with such an ending? How about books with this theme?
until next time, know any exceptions?
PS. Bollywood/Hollywood (like say, Arlington Road), I can’t handle subtitled stuff 😐
hmmmmm food for thoguht. u always do that dont you? ;p
You sure think differently, dont you! 🙂
I like slice-of-life so I would not mind a film where the villain wins. Indeed I have watched several films where there is no story, just a narrative (such as Etre et Avoir) or films where the ending is sort of inconclusive (such as Chocolat where you know she _will_ go on a new adventure, sooner than later).
Surely there are some. Must find them.
We have all been brought up on the staple diet of Hindi movies where the hero always wins, so I don’t think a movie where the evil triumphs would be a commercial success, but then maybe I’d like to see such a movie. Take for instance the recent “Oye Lucky!”, where even though the hero is a thief, the director makes sure that you sympathize with him, rather than hate him.
Any movies (Hindi/English) that anyone can recollect where the protagonist is pure evil and still wins at the end?
Have you watched “The Talented Mr. Ripley?”
I know of a few movies where the villains win. But then, the box office played truant. And the heroes were back in business!
I guess the bad guys win in real life. So…i guess in reel life, the good ones are given a chance !
I cant seem to think of any other cogent explanation !
What about Don with Shahrukh Khan
Umm. I always thought it was very simple.
Whoever wins in the end is called the hero. =(
roop: i try 🙂
canary: i really hope so 😀
shefaly: i’m guessing a lot of foreign films may not have this block..
kunal: Don (see comment below) is actually a good example, though a lookalike good version dilutes it a bit
praveen: yes, i was somehow not convinced it fit here *still thinking*
kavi: yep, we do have a block there.. and that seems a reasonable explanation 🙂
radhika: good one 🙂
amdp: now thats an interesting perspective (like history being the perspective of the victorious) hmmm