STP Fixations: I Can't Help But Love Vamps More Than Main Characters

I grew up as a passive yet intrigued viewer of Indian daily soaps, which we earlier called 'serials'. My mother never understood the appeal. "I have enough happening in my own life. I do not have to watch someone else's family drama on TV," she would say. She much rather preferred fantastical Hollywood romcoms starring Katherine Heigl or a comical take on the saas-bahu trope, like in Sarabhai vs Sarabhai. However, every time I visited my great-grandmother, I would catch myself engrossed in the highly melodramatic world of daily soaps. The bright sarees and makeup, over-the-top expressions, and addictive background scores drew me. 

My Fixation With Vamps

I remember my great-grandmother glued to the television in her room, putting her phone on silent and shushing everyone around so she could find out how the main character charms her way out of the traps and convoluted problems repeatedly proposed by the antagonist. She would cheer every time the sanskari bahu gracefully outwitted the 'vamp', her excitement contagious.

I too could not help but root for a character I have not even followed from the beginning. However, as I grew older I slowly started inclining towards the antagonist, typically a glamorously dressed woman with nothing better to do than scheme against the main character. Once, I even felt an unusual attraction to one of the vamps that my great-grandmother vehemently abhorred.

An Innocent Crush Turns More Complex

In my formative years, a highly detested character from a Kannada serial became the cornerstone of understanding my sexuality. She had the usual features-- a collection of trendsetting sarees and micro blouses, bold makeup that commanded attention, and a personality that exuded overconfidence yet insecurity at the same time. I often found her more interesting than the others.

While I eventually got over the silly crush I had on her, her style and personality remained a significant influence on me. I started to question, "Why is this vamp so much cooler than the main character?" I began noticing a captivating dichotomy across many Indian serials-- the overbearing, self-centred, 'modern' vamp versus the pushover, people-pleasing, traditional bahu.

Later, I started understanding the outdated parables that the media often perpetuates and the subversive nature of these Indian serials. I noticed the ideas that were associated with the villainous characters-- fashion sense that challenges the norms of tradition, a fiery and "no bullcrap" personality, a desire for power, and a refusal to be limited to typical gender roles.

Some daily soaps went a step ahead and attached English speaking to a negative trait, portraying modern, educated characters as morally corrupt or disconnected from their roots. This and more unexplainable stereotypes further disconnected me from the intended message of these serials. I started looking for more 'oomph' than just a surface-level portrayal of family dynamics.

Why Vamps Are Way Cooler

As I saw myself drawn to the (slightly) more dimensional character than the goody-two-shoes protagonist, I also started to question "What is making her behave this way?" or "Why is her vulnerability hidden behind a facade of 'evilness'?" I was truly intrigued by the complexity of her motivations. That is how I eventually began empathising with the negative characters in serials.

Some of my favourite antagonist characters, from the little exposure I have had to daily soaps, are Shanaya from the Marathi show Majhya Navryachi Bayko, who had an interesting redemption arc; Meera from Kasamh Se, who just made the show so much better than the other characters; and of course, the OG vamp Komolika from Kasautii Zindagi Kay, who is still a household name for her incomparable fashion.

A common trend among these characters is their genuineness in showing negative emotions like rage and jealousy. The depth of these characters made me seek more answers about their personality, wanting to know why they behave the way they do. This got me more hooked on the serials and made me want to continue watching, something the main character could not do.

Of course, Indian television is growing by leaps and bounds and the shift towards more nuanced storytelling is evident in recent shows. Imagine an antagonist whose immediate instinct is not to poison her newly-married sister-in-law; Or a main character who shows genuine rage when wronged, rather than putting aside her needs and always forgiving or forgetting. 

In this new era of storytelling, viewers are recognizing that even the most despicable characters are capable of redemption or showing empathy. Gone are the days of predictable storylines and unreasonable power games between female characters. Characters today have more depth and are often realistically portrayed with morally ambiguous shades.

STP Fixations is a series dedicated to anything and everything that captures our attention - a scene, anecdote, dialogue, character or a trivial, random bizarreness. A fixation over a memory that sometimes makes sense (or sometimes doesn’t) but is stuck in our hearts and minds long after the moment is over.