Who is Jassi?
Now, that's the pertinent question that's teasing viewers' curiosity and coaxing them back to Sony each weekday for a show that's tight, pacy and equally forceful on the heartstrings. A potent combination. Full marks to the channel for getting off on the right foot.

Four days old, Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin on Sony has people talking. In restaurants, offices and bus stops. About the as-yet unidentified plain Jane who plays the protagonist in the Indianised version of Ya Soy Betty La Fea. Okay, so Sony can't claim to have launched an original. But it has definitely picked up a good show for adaptation.

The theme is novel in a country whose satellite television is obsessed with glamour, beauty and eyelid-batting heroines. By creating hype around Jassi's persona, Sony has managed to hook many viewers even before the show began telecast. Interestingly, most of the promotion seems to target the urban English speaking viewer, if the hoardings and ads in English are anything to go by. True, the glamour world typified by Gulmohar Fashion House in the serial, the upmarket tone of the characters may all be designed to lure in the SEC A and Bs. But is it in the process isolating the typical Indian viewer, that great underbelly of the Indian populace?

The other pitch the show makes is for viewers jaded of kitchen politics on virtually all channels at prime time. Jassi, right from the first episode, got off a racy start, detailing the less-than-ordinary girl's struggle for a job, the parents' distress and the employer's antipathy. Although it remains a mystery why Jassi has to be burdened with heavy spectacles and the funny fringe across the forehead and the gunny sack clothes, when the rest of the family appears more or less normally fitted out. The only plausible reason seems to be that Jassi has been made to look

Remember, you saw it here first?

exactly like Betty in the original. (May we pause here to remind readers that while we presented a photograph of the original Betty in an earlier report, we have also disclosed her name to an as yet unaware industry.)

Jassi also sometimes gives the lie to her apparently high academic and intelligence standards, when she reacts in quite a juvenile manner to many situations in her workplace. Her interactions with her childhood friend, an equally ordinary plain Joe, are however, appealing. The gushing parents probably need to tone down their zeal a bit if they want to appear realistic. The viewer squirms as much as Jassi at their insistence on accompanying their offspring to her office; and apply an auspicious tilak on her head right outside the office.

Inside Gulmohar, (a sleek well done set in Powai in suburban Mumbai) the rest of the characters are spontaneous and easy on the eye, only if one discounts the overly made up Apurva Agnihotri, who plays Armaan, Jassi's boss. Agnihotri (last memorable role in Subhash Ghai's Pardes) tries very hard to look impressive, but it's a tough effort. The emotions take time coming through all that pancake.

Jassi herself appears an able actor. It cannot be an easy job winning hearts dressed in drab outfits, shorn of makeup and fitted with braces and oversized spectacles, but her character comes through as winning. Your heart does go out to her, though at times, it does seem the scenes are contrived to pull at your heartstrings. At such times, Jassi has your pity, not empathy. The directors would do well to refrain from overworking the viewers' tear glands.

The rest of the cast is amiable enough. Rakshanda Khan as the partner of Gulmohar and Armaan's fiancé sashays comfortably around in clothes designed by Satya Paul, and Parmeet Sethi does a good job of a Casanova around the fashion house.

Tony and Deeya Singh have been pulled in from the wilderness (their last well known work was Just Mohabbat and Banegi Apni Baat) to make Jassi, but it seems like a good decision. By Tony Singh's own admission, the rights require him to proceed more on less on the same lines as the original, and the show should end in a year and a half as the original did. If the directors stick to the same speed and story as the original that was a massive hit in several countries, it could have a repeat story here.

Interestingly, Jassi... has been pitted against what could have been termed the most formidable of competitions - Sahara's Karishma - The Miracles of Destiny, in the weekdays 9.30 pm slot. If initial reports are anything to go by however, the ugly duckling seems to be giving a serious run for its money to the golden goose.

Coming back to Jassi, Sony continues to build curiosity around the actor. It's a novel exercise, untried by Indian television and it remains to be seen when the channel intends to unveil the girl behind the character. According to sources, the mystery trip is not restricted to just the public. Even to the rest of the cast, the girl was introduced as Jassi.

Jassi in her true form, apparently, will be revealed slowly as she sheds her braces, specs and then probably the gunny sack attire. That should be interesting to watch.

Also Read:
Will Jassi turn the prime time tide for Sony?

'Plain Jane' Mona to play Jassi?

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