Every story has three main characters, a hero, a heroine and a villain. On television, the stories are mostly women centric. The heroine is the lead and ends up being pitted against the villain who is usually another woman with the hero being relegated to romance and defense. And there came one of the biggest success on Indian Television; Kyun Ki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. That led to the trend of stories where the protagonist is a woman and so is the antagonist.
Fast forward to circa 2010. One story where the hero was unlike a typical hero, unexpectedly for TV story, he could actually push the heroine away. He refused to help out unless she stood up for herself (to save herself from some goons). That hero was Maan Singh Khurana (Gurmeet Choudhary), in the show Geet " Hui Sabse Parayi, who was not a hero left in the background. He was not to be messed with and he did not cry. But he came with his own set of turmoil. There was an internal conflict that made this hero flawed yet endearing. The hurdles were, for once, within the hero and heroine, as is many a times in life.We call it the devil within.
The villain in this new age TV story were circumstances, character's own issues. The heroine was strong yet vulnerable, innocent yet mischievous. Be it Geet Handa (Dharshti Dhami), Khushi Kumari Gupta (Sanaya Irani), Sia Dillon (Abigail Jain), Suvreen Guggal (Smiriti Kalra), Roshni Rawte (Samiksha Singh) or Zoya Farooqui (Surbhi Jyoti). With them came Arnav Singh Raizada (Barun Sobti) in Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon, Arjun Suryakant Rawte (Shaleen Malhotra) in Arjun " Har Yug Mein Aayega Ek and Asad Ahmed Khan in Qubool Hai. Of course, Raghav Oberoi (Himansh Kohli), Kabir (Varun Kapoor) and Yuvraj Singh (Shivin Narang) are just younger versions of the other men who have their own set of issues and the devil is still within.
These characterisations by 4 Lions Films of each of their hero and heroine made the villain not the traditional one but of their hero and heroine themselves. Or so we feel. The presence of Shyam Mahohar Jha (Abhaas Mehta), Dev Khurana (Abhinav Shukla), Rupesh Kataria (Vishal Kapoor), Kumar Gyanesh (Parth Zutshi) was more as a catalyst to move story forward, rather than the main antagonist.
That is what has changed for Indian Television. The anti-hero can be seen in shows like Madhubala with R K (Vivian Dsena), Do Dil Ek Jaan's Raghu (Ayaaz Ahmed) and Maan Ki Awaaz Pratigya's Krishna Singh (Arhaan Behl), of course, had created the buzz in 2009.
What do you think? Has the traditional story telling moved to another realm? Is that the reason for these shows to be a hit, especially with young women (and not so young ones)? What made you "Fall in love" with these characters?
Lets discuss.
Keep watching your favorite shows on television and stay tuned to Forum 32 for news, reviews, interviews, articles, pictures, behind the scene and more.(ignore if posted)
On the pages of my heart, as my favorite forever One thousand percent a genuine & beautiful human being! a gorgeously amazing talent he has which definitely come a long way.
Bigg Boss 19
Bollywood
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai
255