Women have good men in their real lives, hence they want to see brooding men on TV - Viraf Patel

‘TV audiences like men who brood’ - This rather honest statement comes from none other than Viraf Phiroze Patel who plays the lead in Life OK’ s Ek Boond Ishq (BBC Worldwide Productions). “This is a tricky part of television that very few will admit. There is a pattern emerging as to how the male character should appear and how should he behave on screen in order to entertain the audiences in that particular era. If you go back to the times of Dilip Kumar, he would be the subdued, composed actor in control of things, the man who would even make his women laugh in a difficult situation. Cut to today’s films, the hero has to be loud, obnoxious to the point of disliking. The scriptwriters also keep demanding more energy from them,” avers Viraf. “Tell me which recent big screen hero is not similar to someone like Ranbir Kapoor in Yeh Jaawani Hai Deewani or Ranveer Singh in Band Baaja Baaraat. The only exception is Shahid Kapoor in Jab We Met, in which we had a calm composed nature and despite that the movie became a big hit,” informs Viraf. “Coming to TV, we seem to only have intense and brooding men in romantic dramas, while women are shown to be more in control types. They also seem to be the more fun and chirpy types,” the actor quips. Viraf who has earlier done TV shows like Kismat and Mahi Way continues, “Having this constant aggression does affect my personal psyche on the sets. Between shots, there are many lighter moments, so it is hard for me to get back to my character (Mritunjay). Also as I internalize my character, it does get a tad tough to switch on and off,” he observes. Viraf further adds that initially he would question this whole above system. “While doing an episode of Teri Meri Love Stories (again produced by BBC Worldwide), I had asked fiction head Richa Yamani (who had handled Geet and Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon) why does every man on the idiot box have a stubble and always needs to be angry for no rhyme or reason. She answered, ‘simple, women love it, so just do your job,” Viraf maintains. “May be women have enough good men in their real life and now want some brooding men on TV for a change,” the actor exclaims before signing off.