TOI: Handsome daily soap actors help garner TRPs

In the Teflon coated surreal and over dramatic world of daily soaps, the male heartthrob's good looks become an extremely handy means to wow the audience. Actually that's a given, since a sizeable chunk of the telly viewing audience, comprise the fairer sex. While the female protagonist in a prime time soap thrives on her girl next door coy looks, the hero has to be poster-perfect, handsome, tall and totally droolworthy. Good looks usually garners the TRPs with remarkable ease.

Sample this: the TRP-trippers in the soapy world - Star Plus' Diya Aur Baati Hum (Anas Rashid as Suraj Rathi), Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? (Barun Sobti as Arnav Siingh Raizada), Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behna Hai (Karan Tacker as Viren Vadhera and Kushal Tandon as Virat Vadhera), Mann Ke Awaz Pratigya (Arhaan Behl as Krishna), Colors' Balika Vadhu (Siddharth Shukla as Shiv), Uttaran (Gaurav Bajaj as Aman), Kairi -Rishta Khatta Meetha (Jay Bhanushali as Anuj), Madhubala - Ek Ishq Ek Junoon (Vivian d'sena as RK), Chhal - Sheh Aur Maat (Abhishek Rekhi as Kabir), Zee TV's Punar Vivah (Gurmeet Chaudhary as Yash Scindia), Afsar Bitiya (Kinshuk Mahajan as Pintoo Singh), Pavitra Rishta (Rithvik Dhanjani as Arjun), Sony's Kuch Toh Log Kahenge (Sharad Kelkar as Ashutosh), Byaah Hamari Bahu Ka (Gaurav Khanna as Krish), the soon-to-air Love Ya Arranged Marriage (Ashish Kapoor) Life Ok's Dil Se Dua...Saubhagyavati Bhava? (Harshad Chopra as Raghav and Karan Vir Vohra as Viraj Chaudhary), Devon Ke Dev Mahadev(Mohit Raina as Mahadev) - boast of male leads who are scene stealers in every way.

In the women-dominated daily soaps, while the leading ladies garner max eyeballs by their tear jerking acts and the men have precious little to do but to provide the support act and of course look 'pretty'. As Rajan Shahi once put it, "the leading lady of a daily show needs to be a girl next door, so she doesn't have to be strikingly pretty", but since the hero is the dream man, "he needs to be handsome." Also, for the significant percentage of the viewer, the goodlooking hero is often reason enough to come back for more. A dashing hero has his uses - he can take a shower, strut around in a towel, go shirtless (when the TRPs are desperately needed), beat up the baddies, have an intense eyelock with the heroine and catch her when she's falling. He makes the fairytale complete. And in turn ensures a devoted and dedicated fanbase for himself, and more viewership for the show.