Bollywood films have a tendency to make everything about the “hero and heroine”, so there’s hardly any attention given to most side characters. If at all, they’re treated like villains or “losers”, just so that the hero can overshadow them. But if we really think about it, a lot of them would be better people to be around than the main characters.
After all, they’re simple, easy to talk to and more, whereas our heroes can be toxic and complex – which weirdly makes them interesting (our toxic trait).
But, these characters were better off than most heroes and hence, there will always be a special place in our hearts for them:
1. Taran: Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
It’s almost impossible to list “capeless heroes” and not add Taran to it. At first, he was treated as this nerdy engineer who might be the ‘comfortable choice’. But when we really got to see Taran, he was the least toxic man in the entire lot (given how Bunny and Avi were). The more important thing is, that he actually saw and appreciated Aditi for who she was. And isn’t that what most of us want? Oh, and he literally jumped into a pool to save their ring and learnt how to dance, just to make her happy. I mean, that’s too wholesome.
2. Meghna: Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na
We were bound to ship Jai and Aditi, after all, it isn’t as easy to find that in real life. And anyone else who comes around such couples ends up being considered just-not-good-enough. But if it wasn’t for Jai-Aditi and their friendship, Meghna was the kind of person you’d want to be friends with, even want her to stick around. And we gotta give credit where it’s due – she got Jai.
3. Percy: Main Hoon Na
Whether it’s our toxic trait, or the way films portray these characters, there’s never enough limelight given to the actually “nice” characters – the kind we’d like to be around in real life. And Percy was one of them. He’d be there for Sanjana, and wasn’t as problematic and superficial as Lucky, who finally saw her after she got a makeover. Percy was just too nice for everyone around him, and he certainly deserved better (plot and storyline).
4. Dimpy: Student of The Year
In an otherwise dramatic film, Dimpy brought the much-needed organic humour which no one else could. But he was more than just that. To Kaizaad, he was an incredible friend and to his coach, he was the student who actually cared. We might have overlooked his character’s potential, but he was the most realistic yet unproblematic person in the batch.
5. Subodh: Dil Chahta Hai
Given that a lot of us found Saif Ali Khan’s character (somehow, weirdly) charming, so Subodh was automatically treated as the ‘boring’ guy who was made fun of. When in fact, he was a good boyfriend (to Pooja), who would care about things and remember the tiniest details. It might sound mushy for the real world, but his intent was always nice. And let’s just face it, he was more mature than Sameer could ever be.
6. Pappi: Tanu Weds Manu Returns
Now, it’s not every day that we see a friend who’d pretend to be a doctor at a doctor’s convention and then fake a heart attack, just so you can stalk your potential wife. But Pappi did that, and more. He’d not only listen to Manu’s life issues and weird ways to find love again, but also help him with the most random things. All of this, without any judgement, something which is so rare. And there’s no denying that Pappi was all heart.
7. Anshuman: Jab We Met
The world loves Geet and this might be a controversial opinion, but Anshuman wasn’t all bad. Geet eloped to get married to him without even informing him. And when he explained his side of the story, we kind of made him the bad guy. Sure, he wasn’t perfect and there could’ve been better ways to end things. But we cannot certainly put all the blame on him. When he finally came around, and Geet made the choice to marry him, she was the one who led him on. If anything, she was more of a red flag between the two of them.
They deserved better storylines.