Negativity is ever popular on television.Good girls turning bad, bad boys,wicked mothers-in-law and the schemingex-girlfriends; villains and vamps arealways the ones who stay etched inminds even after a show gets over. Butso much is the acceptance of these negativecharacters with the audience thatthese days, even the actors who startedoff on a positive note are turning evil onscreen.Whether the demand is of the scriptor audiences’, there are a number of positivecharacters who have recently turnedkhalnayaks and are enthralling audienceswith their newly acquired shades of grey.Some such characters who are now playingthe baddie’s role include Rajini(Shrenu Parikh in Byah Humari BahuKa), Jagya (Shashank Vyas in BalikaVadhu), Pradeep (Pawan Shankar in KyaHuaa Tera Vaada), Ayesha Kapoor(Chahat Khanna in Bade Achche LaggteHain), Thakur Vikram Singh (VarunBadola Phir Subah Hogi), ShamsherMalik (Bhupinder Singh in Madhubala— Ek Ishq Ek Junoon).
So is it the popular audiencedemand that leads to a twist in the storylineand a dramatic change in the character’simage? Producer JD Majethia ofByah… says, “From day one people hadpredicted the story of the show based onits title. But we wanted to have an elementthat cannot be predicted, some surprise.
A curiosity factor, an element ofsuspense is important. Moreover, amakeover of their favourite characters isloved by people. Rajini’s negativity addsspice to her character and a new dimensionto the story.” Sometimes the flow ofthe story is such that a character has toswing between positive and negativeshades. Actor Mouli Ganguly says,”Anushka is a go-getter; but she is notnegative. She put in everything and madean effort to make the relationship work.
Pradeep feels that if he has another relationship,it is okay, but he can’t see his exwifewith another man.” An edgy dramawith twists and turns keeps viewershooked to a show, but how do actorsreact to their image makeover on screen?Shashank Vyas says, “I am really enjoyingmy work now because there are so manyshades that I get to portray in this show.
Playing this mean guy with spicy stuff isinteresting and challenging.” Well, thelove-hate relationship existing betweencharacters is what makes these actorsswing between positive and negative onscreen. But the new baddies are adding afresh perspective to the story and aregrabbing more eyeballs.
