Billu Papaji's Queen Victoria. Review on Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi - TV Serials Sony TV Channel

Much has been said on MS about this not-so-new serial on SONY. Since this is the only serial I watch these days, I thought of giving my opinion about “Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi”.

Plot

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JJKN is the story of a simple middle class girl, who is very intelligent & hard working and how she gets a job as secretary in a fashion house.

It is the story of her rise in corporate world from secretary to chairman’s assistant and briefly as finance head of the company.

It is the story of her success on personal front in office, where people who shunned her initially because of her looks, accept her as a good human being and a hardworking individual.

It is the story of her dumb boss who is there only because he inherited the business, not because of his brains.

It is the story of her infatuation for her boss.

It is story of her bunch of friends who stand by her through thick and thin and her nosey over protective dad who loves to interfere in her life.

It is the story of Purab, who loves her regardless of how she looks and her failure to understand that love.

Characters

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~:o:~Jassi ~:o:~ Mona Singh as Jassi has acted well. She has made that character believable.

~:o:~Arman Suri~:o:~ He is a spineless, lying idiot. Apoorv Agnihotri has acted even worse than he did in “Hum ho gaye Aapke” (Yep I have seen the movie for sole reason coz I love the song “Der se hua”). If fidgeting with the paperweight, shouting, making faces and 64 teeth smile is acting, then he should be nominated for Oscars.

~:o:~Billu Papaji~:o:~ Mr. Balwant Walia is irritation factor personified. Being protective about the daughter (Queen Victoria as he calls her) is fine, but then there is a limit to it. He takes things on face value. At one point of time he hated Jassi’s boss like anything. One fine day when he sees him praying in temple, and then onwards the dumb boss becomes Mr. Nicey for him. In fact, if his character is meant to be that way, then I must say that he has succeeded in irritating the viewers, hence played his part well.

~:o:~Mallika Seth~:o:~ She wears all sorts of weird clothes and weird prints on sarees, all in the name of fashion. She nurses a grudge for Jassi for no reason at all. Her character is quite complex. Sometimes she is nice and concerned about the company. If she is so concerned then why does she hate Jassi who is a hard working girl, dedicated to the company’s welfare? She insulted Jassi for organizing her engagement party. Wow, and that too without any justifications. That episode was very badly handled. The dialogues were poor and made no sense at all.

~:o:~Raj~:o:~ The Casanova of GulMohur. Parmeet Sethi has played his part very well. His one-liners are a big relief whenever there is an interaction with his best friend Mr. Suri, who just knows how to overact.

~:o:~Nandu~:o:~ Nandu Jassi ka bandhu. His nok-jhonk with Jassi’s dad is fun to watch. He is so possessive about Jassi that he does not like Purab’s presence as her new friend.

~:o:~Purab~:o:~ Samir Soni as Purab has tried to act well. Better than he did in ”A Mouthful of Sky”. But somehow I feel that his love for Jassi should have been justified with more concrete grounds than just 1-2 episodes, because in this case we cannot even say that it was love at first sight.

~:o:~Pari~:o:~ Wow! The lady can really act dumb. Or is she being just her natural self? She was meant to be there to act dumb and she does it well.

~:o:~Hansmukhi~:o:~ Last month when the serial was dragging a bit when Jassi went for hibernation, Hansmukhi was a comic relief.

~:o:~Jassi’s gang~:o:~ Ever ready to help her in any situation. Maithili’s catfights with Pari are subtle and sweet, unlike our Saas-bahu dragon fights.

+ve Points

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When it started, it was a welcome change from regular soaps on the idiot box. The setting was different from a (ab)normal household. The office setting chosen was a fashion-house for a change instead of some XYZ biggie office which is a cross between, real estate, software, and God knows what not.

-ve Points

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~:o:~Jassi’s Character~:o:~ Some aspects of Jassi’s character are not good, but then this is my personal opinion. Many people may not really agree with this. Jassi is intelligent and very hardworking, but then why does she allow herself to be treated like a doormat and works like a slave at beck and call of her stupid boss. May be that’s out of love for him, but then why can’t the rational person in her see that she is falling for a no good person who is manipulative cheat. Once she took bold decision of leaving the job and then her weakness drew her back to Gulmohur. Initially she was portrayed as strong individual with good ideals. Where did they all vanish?

~:o:~Episode at Mallika and Armaan’s Engagement~:o:~ It could have been better with good dialogues. They were so pathetic that Mallika ended up looking like a fool. Whoever wrote her monologue should have spent more time on this, because this was the turning point in the serial.

~:o:~Hum Tum Advertisement~:o:~ Last week’s episodes were nothing but the campaign for much hyped movie “Hum Tum”. The producers shamelessly used JJKN’s popularity as launch pad for the movie.

Verdict

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The serial started of quite well. But now it is reduced to nothing but subtle version of K-Serials. In order to cash on the popularity a lots of masala has been added. I wish that it comes back on track soon, before an average viewer loses interest.