South Indian cinema runs on heroism. The hero is not just the lead actor, he is the centre of the universe and the film unravels around him. He is worshipped on screen and off it too. And for that celebration to land, the villain has to be big enough to make the hero’s victory feel earned. That, according to Bobby Deol, is why Hindi actors keep getting cast as antagonists in Tamil and Telugu films.‘South cinema wants its villains from Hindi cinema’“It’s a different world out there, in the sense that they have a lot of heroism. They worship the heroes. So they always want their villains to be from Hindi cinema,” Bobby Deol said in an interview with Galatta Plus.It is a pattern the industry has followed for decades. From Bollywood actors being cast as antagonists in Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan films in the 1990s to the current wave where Bobby Deol, Sanjay Dutt and Sonu Sood routinely play the villain opposite South Indian leads, the logic is the same. A Hindi actor as the villain gives the hero a pan-Indian opponent to conquer. It makes the audience feel like the hero is not just fighting a local threat but taking on someone from the larger, more visible Hindi film industry. Whether that is fair to the Hindi actors involved is a different question. But it works at the box office, and that is why it keeps happening.Bobby Deol has become the most in-demand version of this formula in the last three years. After his career-reviving turn in Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal in 2023, the offers from the South have not stopped. He played the villain in Suriya’s Kanguva. After that, he faced off against Balakrishna in Daaku Maharaaj. He was Aurangzeb opposite Pawan Kalyan in Hari Hara Veera Mallu. And on Thursday, he arrives as the antagonist in Vijay’s Jana Nayagan, the most anticipated Tamil release of the year and the sitting Chief Minister’s final film.“It’s a strange fact, but most of them got into politics, and they worked with me before they won the elections,” he said, laughing.‘Really happy that Vijay has become the CM’The coincidence, rightly pointed out by Bobby Deol, is genuinely striking. Vijay became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Pawan Kalyan is the Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Balakrishna is a sitting MLA and one of the most influential political figures in the Telugu states. All three worked with Bobby Deol in the years immediately before or during their political rise.Bobby shared brief impressions of each of them. Talking about Suriya, with whom he worked on Kanguva, he said, “I’ve had some great experiences, and I’ve worked with some great people, like Suriya.”Story continues below this adAlso Read: ‘Could be your family tomorrow’: Vismaya Mohanlal, Tovino Thomas support CJP protestsTalking about Vijay, Bobby said, “With Vijay, I didn’t get that much interaction because he’s a very quiet person.” He added, “I’m really happy that he’s become the CM. It’s amazing. One day you’re acting with a person, and the next day he’s the Chief Minister.”“Pawan is very quiet. It was nice working with him, but he also got into politics,” Bobby said. Pawan Kalyan became the Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in June 2024, before Hari Hara Veera Mallu’s July 2025 release.