MUMBAI: Mona who? That could well be the question on everyone's lips when Sony Entertainment Television India unveils on Monday the face it hopes will spell TRP magic for its big ticket item for 2003 Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin.
And even as SET is keeping the girl well under wraps (with just a peek of her hair and eyebrows in a front page cover photo in today's Bombay Times), indiantelevision.com learns that the lead in the series is a fresh face named Mona (Singh?), an unknown who is having her first exposure to television. Going by the way the sneak peek was offered today, expect a picture of the girl in Monday's edition of Bombay Times, the day the show launches in the 9:30 prime time slot.
But a caveat here. indiantelevision.com had earlier missed the mark on who plays the lead Jasmeet 'Jassi' Walia in the show so we may again be proved wrong. However, the name has been given to us from multiple sources so the odds are that we're right this time round.
The rumour mills have been fed with a number of possible names from the showbiz world but in the end SET and show producer Tony Singh opted for a genuine "plane Jane" to play Jassi, according to industry sources. Of the names that were thrown at indiantelevision.com, it was model and MTV veejay Nafisa Joseph that had the strongest buzz around it. But in the end it proved a red herring. Among the other names that came up were Rakshanda Khan (who plays Mallika in the series) and even recent UK import and Bollywood aspirant Katrina Kaif.
So what is Mona aka Jassi like? Informed sources say the most striking feature of the character is that she is not at all striking. She is no bombshell who is going to have a pair of spectacles and braces to "uglify" her but your regular girl next door who is tomboyish to boot.
The message driven home as the series develops will be that beauty lies within. A line that is reinforced in the banners across the city advertising the show: "Beautiful women are easy to find, but there is only one Jassi."
The choice of lead appears to reaffirm just that.
Also Read:
Will Jassi turn the prime time tide for Sony?
