TOI: Can the reel men please stand up?

It's ironic! For a medium that primarily caters to women, most daily soaps on Hindi entertainment channels have one common thread -male leads who are wimps. Granted that the poor guys usually have precious little to do except show off their fab abs in tee shirts that are one size too small (if drool value is what you are looking for then the hero might even walk around in a singlet or a white vest or even a towel), kick some butt and beat the baddies troubling the leading lady or be there in dramatic confrontation sequences as a prop.

In 'Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon?', a savvy self-made biz tycoon, Arnav Singh Raizada (Barun Sobti) gets kidnapped by his evil brother-in-law (played by Abhaas Mehta) and during an emotional scene, the villain humiliates the heroine, going to the extent of calling her a woman of low moral character and all he gets in return is a slap from the hero! In 'Kya Hua Tera Vaada', happily married woman and mom Mona ( Mona Singh) whose husband has moved on with a more glam girl flaunts a new baby bump and the errant hubby has to stand up for her virtue, by claiming the child is his!

In 'Pavitra Rishta', Manav Deshpande (Hiten Tejwani) still can't fight for his wife's rights and his first instinct is to avoid any sort of confrontation with his bossy mom. And the show completed three years of the same dilemma, -- the hero can't take a stand! In 'Saath Nibhana Saathiya', Ahem (Mohammed Nazim) isn't ready to have a baby and is giving a tough time to his docile and devoted wife Gopi (played by new replacement Devleena), while his in-command mom tries to sort out the situation.

In 'Mann Ke Awaaz Pratigya', another show that has been running for over two and half years, the male lead, Krishna (played by Arhan Behl) has always found himself or some family member behind the bars or in serious trouble and it's up to Pratigya (Pooja Gor) to save the day. In 'Balika Vadhu, Kachche Umar Ke Pakke Rishte', Jagya (played by Shashank Vyas) is not just a bigamist who reluctantly gives his first wife Anandi (played by Pratyusha Banerjee) divorce, he's also unwilling and unhappy at the prospect that his family loves her, and they are considering marrying her off again to a more suitable guy.

Suraj Rathi (played by Anas Rashid) in 'Diya Aur Baati Hum' is of course the official wimp, who's never raised a word of protest for any wrong done to his wife Sandhya (Deepika Singh). Ram Kapoor (Ram Kapoor) of 'Bade Achche Laggte Hai' is quick to suspect his wife Priya(Saakshi Tanwar) over his evil step ma and it takes other characters to make him realize her importance in his life, only by then it's too late.

In the tear-streaked world of daily soaps, men who don't behave the way they should nevertheless makes the audience sigh in delight. It's always nice to see screen characters, who have every material comfort still miss out on having a real man as the better half in the relationship..