Review:Jassi limps to an end!

What was it about Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin that kept us glued to our television sets???? The ugly duckling who overcame all opposition to make her mark in a world that shunted her very presence - that was the USP of the show which made television headlines with every twist and turn in its chequred script!

The show breathed its last on 4 May....but it has died a million deaths since the lead protagonists much publicised makeover.

Jassi is being called a cult show, now that its obituary is appearing in every mentionable medium, print and electronic, and I agree with all those who say that it is. It's a show whose theme redifined television content - it gave beauty a new meaning, gave the average a higher standard, it made people believe that they could also reach standards that they thought was beyond their reach. But there are questions that linger in the minds of viewers which Jassi left untouched. What started out as an agenda to make the average look pretty, ended propagating the conventional - you have to turn pretty to be successful!

Was Jassi a girl who belonged to the present century? The hard rimmed glasses and even the sadhna cut that she flaunted was in fashion when Sadhna reigned in Bollywood....and that... was a long time ago!!!!!! Which girl in any godforsaken part of this country doesn't want to look good??? Jassi for one defied the very laws of womanhood!

Another question that keeps coming back is the "will Armaan or won't he" aspect of the show. What did Armaan see in Jassi that he fell for her? Did he fall in love with the real Jassi or the girl who was an answer to all his financial troubles???? It's really hard to fathom the depth of his loyalty or for that matter his love!

To be fair there must have been something in the show for it to be not only such a hit among the masses, but also manage to be a channel driver for Sony for such a long time. Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin aroused the sentiments of 'what if' and 'we wish we could' - it was an aspirational story that tugged at the heartstrings of the average Indian. Although it wasn't a saas-bahu saga, it had all the ingredients of a family drama. A conniving 'other woman' in Mallika; a 'straying suitor' in Armaan; the perfect family in 'pappaji and co' and a 'friend for all seasons', Nandu!

Tony and Deeya and their creative team knew the pulse of the viewers very well - they filled up a void that was gaping at them. Amidst the saree clad jewellery laden bahus on Star Plus, they brought to the viewer a simple, docile, salwar-kurta wearing damsel who's always in distress....it had to be a winner, purely for the lack of variety!

But things somehow fell apart when this vision of the damsel waned away! People yearned for the helpless girl. They wanted her to stay the way she was, for they hadn't changed....they looked the same and they expected their Jassi to show them the way - to come out a winner without going through the most expensive makeover ever seen on airtime! This paved the way for Jassi's degeneration, and the mock marriage that was widely promoted through hoardings and promos was the final nail in the coffin!

With Indian Idol doing well and new shows coming in, Jassi... was shifted to the 10:00 pm time slot that made it a direct competitor of Star Plus' long running show, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii and also drove away some of the loyal viewers who were used to watching the show at 9:30 pm.

All in all, Jassi's last epsiode was just the official way to say goodbye...the Jassi we knew was the girl we all admired for her guts and never say die attitude, we loved her because she was like us....ordinary! How I wish she stayed that way!