Mean guys take over

For nearly eight years, women have played both protagonists and antagonists in all daily soaps. Since most dailies are driven by vicious vamps, male characters have mostly remained on the sidelines. If there have been a few cases of strong male antagonists like Ansh Gujral and Sasha that caught the viewers' eyes, their days of glory didn't last long. But lately the trend seems to be changing in favour of male antagonists.

In Babul Ka Aangan Chootey Na for instance, one of the key members of the protagonist's family is a negative male character. In Kuchh Is Tara the main villain of the story is Ranbir Nanda, played by Akaashdeep Sehgal. In Main Teri Parchhain Hoon the heroine's love interest plots revenge on her because she refuses to reciprocate his love. Mukul Dev plays an obsessive lover in Kumkum. Bharat Chawra plays the evil Ishan Nanda in Kahani... Is it just a passing phase or male villain is finally getting his due?

"Television is dominated by women. I quit Kyunki and Teen Bahuraniyan because I didn't have much to do after a point," says Mehul Kajaria who plays Aastha's villainous brother Vinay in Babul Ka Aangan. "But Vinay is a very strong character. He is so selfish and self-centered that he will go to any extent to protect his own interest." Akaashdeep who played the highly volatile and extremely negative Ansh Gujral in Kyunki and later played Ansh's well-behaved son Eklavvya in the same show is not sure whether the male villain is finally remerging. "Ranbir is against love and marriage and that's why he plays the spoilsport in his nephew's love story. He is arrogant and badly behaved but he is not an evil character. In fact, now he has been trapped into marrying the same girl he wanted Aayan to stay away from," says Akaash.

While Mehul feels that there is a ray of hope for male villains, Babul Ka Aangan producer Ratna Sinha doesn't think the trend is likely to change in the near future. "Vinay is an important character who represents today's youth. He wants to go abroad for higher studies knowing fully that his family can't afford his dream," she says, adding, "I would love it if things change and there is a good balance between male and female characters, both positive and negative."

According to Sony's programming and creative head Sanjay Upadhyay, mainstream television entertainment is unlikely to allow strong male characters. "When the story is told from a woman's point of view, male characters will obviously get less importance. But it's not that there is nothing much for men to do. Take the case of Jay Walia in Kasamh Se. He is the villain of the story. But he gets overshadowed because Bani is an extremely vulnerable victim who drives the story," he elaborates.

Mukul Dev is also of the view that in a woman-centric story even an important male character plays the second fiddle. "A male villain will be relegated to the backseat because the story doesn't need him," he feels. Shailja Kejriwal, senior creative head of NDTV Imagine, believes that the vamps have been etched out very well. "Since they worked well, more female negative roles were created," she adds.

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