The Snake - Shyam Manohar Jha

The snake is the male villain of Indian tv shows. Just like their female counterparts, the vamp, they can be sneaky, tricky, devious, and just plain evil. Where vamps are cunning, the snake is just plain brutal. Vamps and Snakes may do the same things but there is always more blood with the snake. The one snake that stands out from recent times would be Shyam Manohar Jha from Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon.

Shyam is a lawyer from Lucknow. When we initially meet him, he seems to be a decent, well-meaning character but looks can be deceiving. He bumps into Khushi Kumari Gupta (the female lead) in Lucknow and forever changes. He is instantly smitten by her and when he finds her in Delhi, he just can't stay away. He manipulates Khushi's aunt into letting him stay in her house as a paying guest. Needless to say, Shyam develops a friendship with Khushi and tries to woo her. The audience is shocked to find out that Shyam is actually married and his wife just happens to be Arnav Singh Raizada's (the male lead) older sister Anjali. Check out Shyam's menacing background music in the clip below.  

Needless to say, Khushi and her family are unaware of Shyam's deception. When Shyam realizes that Khushi doesn't have any feelings for him, he focuses his attention on impressing Khushi's aunt so that she think of him as an eligible partner for Khushi. Khushi's father is instantly suspicious of Shyam and follows him around to learn more about him. When he finds out the truth, Shyam injures him so he cannot speak and is confined to a wheelchair. Shyam uses this situation to force Khushi to say yes to their rishta. Thankfully, Shyam's deception is revealed to the family and Khushi breaks off her engagement with Shyam and threatens him to stay away.

Unfortunately, Arnav misunderstands Khushi's relationship with Shyam. He thinks that Khushi and Shyam are having an affair and decides to marry Khushi to save his sister's marriage. Khushi tries her hardest to prove that Shyam is the villain but once again Shyam makes Arnav think that Khushi is lying. Arnav finally realizes that Shyam is a snake when Shyam kidnaps Arnav and hold him captive for months. Arnav and Khushi finally see eye to eye and resolve to remove Shyam from their lives for good. Of course no snake would accept defeat so easily. Shyam uses Anjali's pregnancy as an excuse to regain entry into the Raizada house.  

After re-entering the Raizada household, he brings Dadiji in to break up Arnav and Khushi for good. But in true serial fashion, Arnav and Khushi overcome that hurdle as well. Finally Shyam switches Anjali's pregnancy medications and causes her to have an accident which results in her losing the baby. Seeing Anjali's mental state, Arnav decides not to reveal Shyam's true intentions to Anjali. Khushi and Arnav make other plans. When they finally reveal all of Shyam's atrocities to Anjali, she slaps him and vows never to see his face again.

With that Shyam is finally out the picture and everyone in the Raizada and Gupta households can live their lives peacefully.

I was surprised to see a strong male villain in a popular tv show. The way Shyam manipulates everyone around him was new. Yes, villains in tv shows are known for their manipulation skills but come on this guy had his rich wife wrapped around his finger! Not just that, he even had Dadiji completely under his control. Also the way he emotionally tortured Khushi and messed up her developing relationship with Arnav makes him especially devious. I've wondered what made Shyam act the way he did. Anjali was so in love with him that she would have been completely willing to give him access to the Raizada fortune but instead Shyam chose to kidnap his brother-in-law and claim that Khushi was trying to seduce him. Regardless, there's a reason why Abhas Mehta won best villain awards while playing Shyam. He was good, actually really bad! Hope he gets as much success playing other characters as well!