Some of my fave Indian drama Queens

Here's to the darlings of Indian drama Queens.

Some of my favourites are Manjari, Deepa Venkat, Shilpa, and Devi Priya.I know the first two names very well: Manjari played the bad girl in Annamalai, as Pappu (I think), while Deepa Venkat played Sneha in Roja.

The other two - Shilpa and Devi Priya - I dunno if I've watched them in any drama. Maybe I had, maybe I hadn't. Will confirm this over time.

Anyway, here's a news article in The Hindu about these four ladies.
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Bad is Beautiful
source: http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/09/16/stories/2004091600850100.htm

They add style and suspense to small screen soaps. CHITRA SWAMINATHAN talks to some `villis'
TELEVISION'S BOLD and beautiful girls are turning baddies to hit big time. And they owe it to the current crop of serial makers. Most of the soaps with high TRP ratings have female characters with exaggerated shades of grey. These villains are virtually the scene-stealers who provide the much-needed twists and turns to the story.

Ask Devipriya, one of the favourite `villis' around, how she feels about the `evil' tag. And she cannot help but sound thoroughly excited. "My onscreen wickedness has proved good for my career, what else can I ask for," she says matter-of-factly.

Not worried about being typecast, the talented actress prefers such roles as they remain in the mind of the audience for a long time. "Reach and popularity apart, there is greater scope for histrionics too."

More mileage

Agrees Manjari, who plays the cruel woman in "Annamalai", "Though I am doing many serials, this role has helped me gain quite a bit of mileage. So much that when I go out people walk up to me and say `please, don't be so vindictive and mean'." Behind the greasepaint she has an innocent look, yet she does not mind being portrayed otherwise.

These ambitious women of the small screen indulge in power play, incite someone to commit a crime, create tension in happy families and disrupt someone's love life.

"It's a challenge to be genuinely wicked and make people hate you," says Deepa Venkat, who has discarded her goody-goody image in "Geetanjali" and to quite an extent in "Roja". "It is also fun creating all the fear and suspense." What is she going to do next? The viewers are kept guessing.

Villis they may be, but the groomed types — stylish and smart. Unlike their filmi counterparts, you cannot spot TV's bad brigade by their bizarre get-up. As Shilpa [who played a negative role in "Appa"] points out, the wickedness should come through in your performance and dialogue delivery. Besides, such roles offer scope to look your best — bright costumes, designer accessories and make up to match. It's more exciting than portraying the sobbing and sulking types.

As the trouser-clad savvy Sneha of "Kolangal", Deepa says, "There is a lot of me in the character — sense of humour and sensitivity. Life would be definitely dreary without a modern makeover in acting and attire. Change is essential to trigger the creativity in you. So we are game for different roles. Thankfully, these days people [both the audience and the serial makers] don't expect you to stick to an image."

Victim of circumstances, some of these villis have reasons to be so, points out Devi priya. "Cheated, deserted and exploited they get into revenge mode. Behind the tough look may be an emotional person [quite like Kavita in Roja]."

Focus of serials

Says K. Shanmugham of AVM, "Like in every family, women have become the focus of serials too — their everyday travails, their insecurity, their strength, their attitude, their fight against odds. While depicting a woman's character in a modern milieu we are forced to show both her positive and negative sides. Of course, it is often dramatised for better screen appeal. And usually, it is the negative aspects that register instantly."

Subhaa Venkat, screenplay and dialogue-writer, feels the mega soap mania is to blame for the portrayal of women as larger-than-life villis. Such characters are a must to keep a serial running for more than 1,000 episodes.

Associated with many of the Minbimbingal productions and currently working on Kushboo's "Kalki", Subha says it's nice that most serials now revolve around a woman's life but the flip side is the portrayal is not progressive. "No family should be happy. A woman must suffer or make others suffer — that seems to be the success mantra of serials."