B?wood: Jassi?s next halt

Popular TV star Jassi wants to try her luck in Bollywood after she sheds her gawky persona as the popular if nerdy heroine.

Popular Indian television star Jassi (Mona Singh) has said she wants to be a Bollywood star after she sheds her gawky persona as the popular nerd heroine.

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"Next I have Bollywood aspirations," Jassi told in an interview on the sidelines of an interaction with around 700 women who sell household products for kitchen container giant Tupperware.

"Hindi films are where I see myself after this serial ends, which like all serials, must some day," grinned the actress who plays the mousy, though not mindless secretary, in the soap Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin.

The identity of Jassi is a secret as she carries her brace-toothed, thickly bespectacled image even outside the idiot box, though she is widely speculated to be former model Mona Singh.

Jassi eyes Bollywood

At the moment, she is contractually bound to the makers of the serial that tops television ratings, Sony TV, for one and a half more years during which she is barred from accepting new projects.

"There are offers but, one, I cannot accept them by contract and, two, I only want to take up something that is completely different from this role. Will my new roles be glamorous? I certainly hope so."

The serial, initially a huge gamble for Sony TV, has paid rich dividends, drawing audiences away from the phenomenally popular family weepies of rival Rupert Murdoch's Star TV. "There was a need for a serial like Jassi, I think," reasoned the actress.

"TV soaps were either about the very glamorous or the domesticated wife - where was the space for a modern young woman, who might not be very cool per se but has lots of dreams and ideas."