Meena Jutla
Meena Jutla is a fictional character from the ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Paige Sandhu. Details surrounding her casting and Meena's characterisation were announced in September 2020 alongside that of two other new characters as part of what Emmerdale described as a "big autumn shake-up". She was introduced as the estranged sister of Manpreet Sharma and arrives in the fictional village with the intention of reconciling her relationship with Manpreet. Upon her casting, Sandhu described her character as irresponsible, apathetic, unreliable, wild and intelligent. She later revealed that Meena's backstory involves her often being ignored by her parents in favour of Manpreet, which led to Meena having sex with Manpreet's husband Dennis, which led to their marriage breaking down, as well as her relationship with her sister.
Shortly after her introduction, Meena forms a relationship with David Metcalfe. The beginning of her tenure sees her scheming to improve her relationships with David and Manpreet. Her actions included taking Rishi Sharma's medication so that she could rescue him and pretending to be Ethan Anderson's estranged mother, after which producers hinted that Meena would be at the "forefront of really brilliant and gripping drama". It was later confirmed that she would become an Emmerdale villain in a serial killer plot. Sandhu created a backstory for her character which included killing two off-screen characters; her own father and former best friend Nadine Butler. Her on-screen murders include village locals Leanna Cavanagh, Andrea Tate and Ben Tucker. Meena is known to dance and sing along to pop music before committing a crime, as well as taking keepsakes from her victims after their deaths. She also becomes involved in the aftermath of the murders in order to see the reactions from those who are mourning. In January 2022, it was confirmed that Sandhu would be leaving the role.
For Sandhu's portrayal of the role, Meena won the award for Best Villain at the Inside Soap Awards twice, in 2021 and 2022, also garnering nominations for Best Newcomer, Best Show-Stopper and Best Actress. At the 2022 British Soap Awards, Sandhu won the award for Best Leading Performer, as well as receiving nominations for Villain of the Year and her serial killer storyline receiving a nod for Best Storyline. The role also saw Sandhu receive nominations at the TRIC Awards, National Television Awards, TV Choice Awards and the TVTimes Awards. Meena caused division in viewers' opinions since her introduction. After Meena is revealed to be a serial killer, critics and viewers began to praise the character and Sandhu's acting skills, with many believing Meena had become a "top soap serial killer". Duncan Lindsay of the Metro described Meena as "the most unique and entertaining soap villain ever" and admitted that he wanted her to get away with her crimes due to her strong presence on Emmerdale. Many viewers praised Meena and accredited her with being most interesting part of Emmerdale, while some have complained about the violence shown in her murderous scenes, with Ofcom receiving hundreds of complaints about her brutality. Despite criticism, Meena regularly trended on Twitter and her storyline increased Emmerdales ratings to the point of becoming the most-watched soap opera in the United Kingdom. Fans of Meena, known as 'Meeniacs', called for ITV to commission a spin-off series about her and "mourned the loss of Meena" after her exit.
Casting and characterisation
's casting as Meena was announced by Emmerdale on 7 September 2020; she was announced as part of a "big autumn shake-up" alongside the castings of Lawrence Robb as Mackenzie Boyd and Simon Lennon as Ben Tucker. It was confirmed that Meena would be introduced as the estranged sister of established character Manpreet Sharma and that the pair had fallen out in the past. Upon her casting, Sandhu described her character as fun and complex to play and she voiced her excitement at seeing how the viewers would react to her. She also stated that she had been enjoying filming with Sarker and Bhasker Patel, who plays Sarker's onscreen husband Rishi Sharma. On 24 September 2020, the day of Meena's first appearance, Sandhu revealed more details concerning her character. She stated that Meena is the opposite of her sister Manpreet, and that she is irresponsible, apathetic and unreliable, which she found enjoyable to portray. Sandhu also found Meena to be wild and intelligent, noting her talent for manipulating people. She explained: "She knows how to work people and she's a chameleon, depending on who she's talking to. She wonders: 'What can I get out of this person?'"Explaining Meena's backstory, Sandhu stated that being the younger sister in her family led her to feel she is lower in the hierarchy of life. She views Manpreet as "the epitome of all that's good and great" and feels that she does not compare to her. Due to Meena growing up with an overachieving sister, Sandhu said that Meena had formed deeply rooted insecurities about herself due to not feeling good enough, which she covers up. The actress said that this backstory would be subtly explored in her scenes, as well as nods to her character having lived through recent depressing years. Sandhu also said that in order to enrich her character, she created a backstory where Meena has murdered two people prior to coming to Emmerdale. Sandhu stated that Meena's biggest weakness is her continued involvement with her murders. She explained that Meena loves to take a keepsake from her victims, such as Leanna's ring and Andrea's bracelet; the actress admitted that taking tokens from her victims and keeping them in a box is not clever. She also felt that although Meena is very clever, she should not stay involved with the crime, but explained that she has a fascination with death. She said: "When she's killed someone, she needs to still be involved in it. She wants to take complete ownership of that crime and so she watches people's reaction to that death, takes a token from the victim and stays around those people." When asked if she want Meena to face comeuppance for her crimes, Sandhu admitted that she wants Meena to keep getting away with her crimes due to enjoying portraying a serial killer.
Development
Introduction
Meena arrives in the Emmerdale village stating that she has the intention of reconciling with Manpreet, with who she had fallen out with years prior to her arrival. Sandhu hinted that despite Meena saying this, there is always a selfish reason behind her actions. She was asked how the reunion between the two characters goes, to which she replied that there would be tension and drama. She noted that the drama is especially awkward for Meena since she is the person responsible for the rivalry between them. Manpreet reveals that Meena had sex with her ex-husband while the pair were still together, which led to the eventual breakdown of their marriage. Rishi takes a liking to Meena and recommends her for a job at the local doctor's surgery, where Manpreet also works. Manpreet sits in on her interview with Liam Cavanagh, where she makes distasteful remarks about Meena's personality. Both Liam and Rishi voice their disapproval of Manpreet's treatment of Meena, leading Manpreet to forgive Meena and allow her to stay at her house.As well as being introduced as Manpreet's sister, it was also confirmed that she would be a potential love interest for newly single Billy Fletcher. Meena flirts with him in front of his ex-girlfriend, Dawn Taylor, which leads to a confrontation between the pair. After the interactions between Meena and Dawn, Sandhu revealed that Meena will make several other enemies in the village. She noted that any strong women will be threatened by Meena since she enjoys annoying them. She also confirmed that alongside her rivalries, Meena would also pursue friendships on the programme with characters such as Rishi and Liam.
Scheming and villainous acts
In November 2020, Meena begins pursuing David Metcalfe. Thinking that "David could be the man for her", she asks him on a date to which he accepts; however, he stands her up and texts her saying that he cannot come. Annoyed by David's rejection, she heads to his shop to confront him. Meena later learns that Manpreet was responsible for David standing her up, since her sister had advised David against dating her. Meena reacts by making a "shocking move" in order to win both Manpreet and David over. Meena purposely changes the direction of Rishi's Sat Nav, as well as taking his medication from the car and hiding Manpreet's phone. She pretends to come across Rishi in the direction she sent him and acts as though she has saved him. When Manpreet does not know how to thank Meena for saving Rishi's life, she suggests that Manpreet should talk to David about her again, in order to persuade him to give their relationship another chance. Speaking on Meena's actions, Sandhu guessed that the audience will not like Meena anymore since her character is "trying to steer the situation so that it comes out with her in the best possible position". She added that in Meena's position, her plan has succeeded since she has become a saviour in Manpreet's perspective. After Meena has won David back, Sandhu confirmed that viewers would continue to see more of Meena's dark side. She also warned viewers that her character has no limits as to how far she will go to get what she wants and confessed that she loves playing the new baddie of Emmerdale. Digital Spy then wrote in December 2020 that the soap were setting up a "dark direction" for Meena.In April 2021, Sandhu teased to Inside Soap that her dream storyline would be airing soon. She could not give specific details on the storyline due to her contract but stated that it would be a storyline that viewers would look forward to watching. The storyline begins with Meena impersonating Ethan Anderson's estranged mother, manipulating his emotions by texting him from a burner phone. Digital Spy wrote that she "hatched this masterplan" with intentions of pushing Manpreet to comfort Ethan so that Manpreet would reunite with ex-lover Charles Anderson, Ethan's father. In June 2021, series producer Kate Brooks told the Daily Mirror that Meena's plot will elevate and "captivate" viewers as she joins the "forefront of really brilliant and gripping drama". Brooks also hinted that her scheming had formed the start of a "gripping and enthralling story" she hoped would get the nation talking and have viewers shouting at their televisions. Days later, Meena locks Andrea Tate's dog in a car to stop her from going on a camping trip with Charles. The scenes were part of her plan to reunite Manpreet with Charles, and following their airing, Meena was revealed to be Emmerdales next major villain. She was tipped by Kilkelly as "one to watch" and guessed that she is "only just getting started".
Meena confides in Diane Sugden about her dead friend Nadine, telling her that she regrets not spotting suicidal tendencies in Nadine before she killed herself. However, Meena is later seen reading an old newspaper clipping that is titled: "Woman found dead in suspicious circumstances." The article also stated that Nadine was found dead in her car after inhaling carbon monoxide fumes and Kilkelly confirmed that Meena is linked to Nadine's death. Following the scenes, Digital Spy compiled a list of potential victims that Meena could murder, with the list including Manpreet, Andrea, Rishi, Diane, David's son Jacob and Jacob's girlfriend Leanna Cavanagh, amongst others.