His 'rough-and-tough' looks and bulging biceps make him a perfect prototype of the "archetypical" villian of Hindi cinema.

Ever since he made his debut in Bollywood three years ago with Padam Kumar's 'Champion', model-turned actor Rahul Dev has featured in a series of negative roles, in films like "Supari", "Aashiq", 'Footpath', 'Indian' and, more, recently, 'Insaan'.

Point this out to Rahul Dev, and pat comes the reply,''it is wrong to say that I have done only negative roles. I have played positive characters too, the most prominent one being that of Sukhdev of 1931, Shaheed', and supporting roles in films like 'Asoka' and 'Agni Pankh'. It is just that my negative roles, be it in 'Champion', 'Footpath' , 'Indian' or 'Insaan', have attracted greater attention than my positive ones.''

Talking to press in an interview, Rahul, who is among the entrants from the modelling world who have dispelled the notion that 'models can't act', said,''my negative portrayals over the years have fetched me as many as five awards. Infact, I won the award for best actor in a villainous role for my debut in 'Champion'' Rahul, who was here in connection with the shooting of his under-production film, Sohail Khan's 'Fight Club',however, feels that the portrayal of a villian in Bollywood films is far from that in real life.

''In Bollywood films, the villian is portrayed as 'all black' while in reality , every person is a combination of "white and black", the good as well as bad qualities,''he said.

Infact, in his under-production 'Fight club', a shooting schedule of which was held in the capital recently, Rahul plays a character who is a combination of both black as well as white, just as it is in real life.