The Day Of The Ugly Duckling

A lot of eyebrows were raised when Sony pulled in Tony and Deeya Singh in from the wilderness (their last well known works were Just Mohabbat and Banegi Apni Baat) to make Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin. But it proved to be more than a good decision. Just four days old, Jassi… had people talking about the plain Jane (who plays the protagonist in the Indianised version of the Columbian Yo Soy Betty La Fea) and the theme which is novel in a country whose satellite television is obsessed with glamour, beauty, eyelid-batting heroines and kitchen politics. By their own admission, the rights required the channel and production house to proceed more or less on the same lines as the original, and the show should logically end in a year and a half, provided of course that Jassi…. sticks to the same speed and storyline as the original that was a massive hit in several Latin American countries. But now that Jassi... has proved to be Sony's ace, will the show come to its pre-ordained conclusion? People are still talking about this serial in buses, trains, taxis, rickshaws, restaurants and kitty parties. The show may have suffered a slight drop in TRPs in the last month, but hasn't every successful show including Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii had its share of rough patches? The question now is: Won't there be a temptation to stretch? Says Deeya Singh, part of the directorial duo, "I can't say. The channel will take the decision. Earlier, we were given a year's contract. Recently, it was renewed for another year." However Sony's VP, new product development Venita Coelho says they had a definite beginning and now have a settled middle and a decided end. "It's just that we have made some modifications to cater to Indian mindsets, but the show is not developing any drastic new tracks which were not present in the original version. If we were to go page by page with the original, Jassi and Armaan would have been sleeping together by now, but surely that cannot be portrayed on Indian television!" But isn't the temptation to stretch evident? The disguised Mona Singh, err Jassi, strutted about at the Lakme India Fashion Week recently, just as she did at the Apsara Film Producers' Guild awards. Deeya had earlier told indiantelevision.com, "Jassi is out to deliver a message. She teaches you how to take the failures and rejections in life. Every day, we go through some downs. Jassi... is a balm on those depressing emotions." So, what message is the protagonist making by making appearances at such vanity fairs? Is the real Jassi at work here? In Columbia, where Jassi was originally born as Beatriz Pinzon Solano, she personified the struggle of the underdog against a system that was literally going to the dogs. Fernando Gaitan, who scripted Betty, has been quoted as saying that telenovelas like these were really about class struggle, were made for the poor, who live in a world where it is nearly impossible to get ahead. Gaitan said his characters succeeded, not in a Cinderalla style of success, but due to their work and diligence. The overwhelming popularity of Betty was due to the fact that the real Columbian woman was able to identify with her instead of the unrealistic beauties that star in Columbian soaps and because the lay viewer could relate to the class and gender struggle she battles against. On the objective behind the new initiative and the recent one, where Jassi and her friend Nandu were shown on NDTV during the India Fashion Week, a Sony official had told indiantelevision.com, "The whole idea was to make viewers relate with these characters, empathise with them and also to bring in additional viewers by usage of other mediums." Meet Jassi, the channel's unofficial mascot. Also, consider the fact that some new characters who have entered the show have no clue whether they were a part of the original script. Says Sandhya Mridul who plays Yana, a high-flying business tycoon, who puts the fashion world in a tizzy with her deals, " I don't know whether I was a part of Betty La Fea. I don't even know the length of my portrayal. I have not seen the original and I just trusted my instincts when I signed the role." Apparently, even Navneet Tara Nishan who made a comeback on the tube with this show as Jassi's new boss Hansmukhi fits into this category. When asked about the length of her role, she says, "That's one of the most difficult questions to ask an actor on Indian television. I have not been briefed on that. It will go on as long as it works, which would be a long time, I hope." Deeya does not beat around the bush. Says she, "Nishan and Mridul were not a part of the Latin American story." Jassi has not yet scaled the peaks of popularity that Betty did, but the Jassi fan club is expanding and Sony is definitely milking its cash cow well. Its marketing team believes Jassi is an excellent ambassador for brands that stand for honesty, integrity and hard work and that she can be leveraged in several exciting and interactive ways to make that happen. Not surprisingly, the channel has worked assiduously to keep the real identity of the actor who plays Jassi under wraps. Jassi has also become the first television icon to help promote celluloid dreams and multinational products. The Jassi plotline seems to be weekly tweaked to accommodate a Saif Ali Khan to push Hum Tum or to incorporate a Vivek Oberoi to plug Vanilla Coke. But Coelho points out, "Even the original version had a lot of cameos, many of which were celebrities." Coelho also says, "The original version ran for about 340 episodes. Due to the modifications, Jassi might go a few episodes above that. There is no reason why it would s-t-r-e-t-c-h. We have lined up good software post Jassi. By the time it ends, Sony will have a very good No.2 and No.3 to take over." Presumably then, Jassi stays as she is, because she pays. Sony has managed to get the nerdy, drab clothed, toothy Jasmeet Walia the interest of viewers. So much so that the 9 pm ratings across channels have grown since Jassi gained a foothold, which means Jassi has grown the size of the market in that slot. A big accomplishment. Can Sony afford to do away with the hen that lays golden eggs?