Move over ladies...the men are back!

Flip through your fave shows on air today and the chances are that in 6 out of the ten shows you will chance upon a male lead who is the focal point in the show. After years of playing subordinates to their female counterparts the men are back on shows. Ram Kapoor (Bade Acche…), Ronit Roy (Adaalat), Sameer Soni (Parichay), Vishal Karwal (Dwarkadheesh), Harshad Chopda (Dharampatni), Ashish Sharma (Chandragupta Maurya) are a happy bunch of actors. They are on shows where the focus is on them and they are no longer paying second fiddle to an actress. If we look back at the shows that were a rage some time back it was the Smriti, Sakhsi, Shweta and company that ruled the small screen. Not only were these actresses the fulcrum of the shows the audience too was predominantly women. But times are changing and one sees that men are back in action. Men have played key parts in TV shows for long, but an entire story revolving around a male character has been a rarity. Years ago, shows like Office Office, Karamchand, Mohandas B.A.L.L.B., Mr.Yogi, Shaktimaan and Just Mohabbat had men in the lead. But ever since the saas-bahu sagas like Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki came in, women took centre-stage as protagonists. But now even a Ekta Kapoor who is known for her saas bahu shows has changed gears and is now offering shows which have heroes playing the central character. Both her latest two offerings Bade Acche on Sony and Parichay on Colors have roles especially etched out for the men in the show. Sameer who makes a comeback on fiction with Parichay says he is happy that the show is being promoted though the male protagonist as most shows are sold through the woman and her problems. He adds that this shows that men are now getting their due on the small screen. Ronit Roy who has done some interesting work on TV says he feels "great being a man in a woman's world". After Kyunki..., the target was the woman audience. The shows were purely made for women. If you ask someone about Mihir Virani...they would know, ask about Rishabh Bajaj, they would know...Dharamraj Mayvanshi from Bandini...that also they would know...so at no point have I felt that my character has been eclipsed by a woman character, Roy says. Stories are no longer one-dimensional. They are stories about people, families - the father, brother and their viewpoints. Producers are no longer playing on just hero-heroines - they are playing on characters. Everybody is getting an equal balance. Father and brother play an equally important role and are given equal prominence. With the balance tilting in favour of men the audience profile too is seeing a noticeable shift. More men have begun to watch soaps and hence one sees that even in the existing soaps males are dominating screen space. All those who have been watching some of the on going serials know how big the roles of some of the male actors are. Shaheer Sheikh (Navya) couldn’t have asked for more and neither would have Karan Mehra (Yeh Rishta...) Even a Sushant Singh’s (Manav) role in Pavitra Rishta is as important as that of Ankita Lokhande (Archana). Though some producers do not feel that men returning on TV could be called a trend. It all depends on the demand of the story and if the story centres around a male then so be it. Today male actors have become an integral part of scripts. In fact, Papad Pol - Shahabuddin Rathod Ki Rangeen Duniya on SAB has a very unique male protagonist played by actor Swapnil Joshi. One has seen a dark and sweet girl play a central character in many a show but the idea of an underdog, dark, very sweet, helpless man wins sympathy from everybody. So is the role played of a house husband by Deven Bhojani in Mrs Tendulkar is in that terms very hatke. In a lighter vein all that can be concluded that this news may not be good news for the women on TV but with so much attention being heaped on the men one is sure they are lapping it up and how. Read more...