Vamps on television have had a prominent presence ever since soap operas came to India. PRAKRITI ROY traces the changing trends in the portrayal of these negative women on TV
When daily soaps first became a rage in India, there were some notable characters that we loved. There were the Tulsis and the Parvatis. Then there were those whom we loved to hate — the Komolikas and the Ramolas.
Daily soaps introduced us to a species we came to know as vamps — villainous, negative and hell-bent on destroying the life of the perfect bahu of the household. These vamps always appeared in two major moulds, the evil mother-in-law (imagine Sudha Chandran as Ramola Sickand) or the husband-snatcher/property-stealer (think Urvashi Dholakia as Komolika). These women set a benchmark for all future vamps that followed.
Today, the vamps on the small screen have undergone a significant change. The most important change is that they no longer have that typical ‘vamp’ look about them.
Bhavna Vyas, writer of shows like Saathiya and at present, working on Zee TV’s Kala Teeka, feels that the conventional vamp with her dark, heavy make-up and skimpy blouses has been replaced. Characters like Ammaji (Na Aana Iss Des Mein laado) and Dadisa (Balika Vadhu) emerged as aged widows with extremely narrow mindsets and rural background. “With the character of jethi maa on Kala Teeka (played by Mita Vashisht), there is a new kind of vamp now — a middle-aged woman who can be considered as a victim of her circumstances,” Vyas says.
What has happened is that these vamps now have genuine reasons and motives. There are shades of grey in characters now. “Over the years, the characters have become more real, yet they remain dramatic (barring the supernatural ones, of course). There is a mixed bag of vamps now who don’t look and act as if they have come out of the same mould,” Vyas tells you.
Nisha Bedi Rai, stylist on shows like Saathiya, Ye Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Kala Teeka, explains: “We decide each and every detail of the look based on the character brief, including material, make-up, sindoor, blouses, shoes and one piece of style statement.” Since her career began with Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi, 15 years back, Rai feels that the concept of the look of a character has progressed a great deal on TV. But she says, “A negative character doesn’t need to stand out too much in terms of look. It just gives an edge to the character.” Perhaps that is why a terrorising character like Jethi maa is seen wearing cotton saris rather than something flashy.
There is a whole new category that has emerged today on TV — the innocent looking cultured vamp. Khushi in Sasural Simar Ka was one such character but Ragini in Swaragini on Colors (Tejaswi Wayangankar) is the one who has defined this genre. She looks like the epitome of the perfect bahu, perfect beti and perfect patni, with her true colours hidden. “Isn’t that an even more dangerous vampIJ looking like something and being someone totally different. The hypocrisy of the character makes it dangerous,” Tejaswi opines. But she disagrees that vamps on TV are getting real by the day. “The more real you get, the less the show is likely to work. The viewers don’t want to see reality,” Tejaswi tells you.
Nidhi Khurana, the stylist for shows like Sarojini, Ishq Ka Rang Safed and Swaragini, reveals that Ragini’s ‘cultured’ look will undergo a change very soon and take on darker tones because she will finally give up on her pretenses.
Overall, it appears that makers of TV soap are experimenting with the portrayal of vamps — both in terms of characterisation and look. While the typical vamps, along the lines of Komolika, still continue to exist, albeit in supernatural forms, the definition of negative women on TV has gone beyond smoky eyes and backless blouses.