Saas ba[who]: ‘Women’s role is changing’

Mona Singh feels Indian TV no more the same

NEW DELHI: Actor-host Mona Singh feels things are no more the same for Indian television as they once were.

Insisting that television is a very women-centric medium, she said, “I think it [role of women] is changing. It is changing for good. TV is anyway very women-centric. So most of the housewives watch TV,” she said.

Singh said, as an actor, it is her duty to inspire other women. “Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin did that. A lot of girls stepped out and applied for jobs. Now I am doing a show on supernatural powers, which talks about good versus evil,” she said.

Mona claimed she will be featuring in a never-seen-before avatar in the new show. “This is a genre that I have never tried and it’s a challenge for any actor because I am not just playing me or a simple character as Paridhi. I will be possessed. So there will be evil spirits taking over my body and I will be going wild, sultry, taking revenge and fighting that spirit to be the shield of the family,” the 3 Idiots actor said.



With the emergence of a plethora of reality shows and competition in the shape of Pakistani soap operas and serials, she feels the “saas-bahu” shows have become a thing of the past. “It is already fading ... it’s gone. There was a time where people would only do saas-bahu sagas ... it is herd mentality. They [producers] follow what works.”

Mona shared that women don’t want to see those dramas because “it’s anyway happening in their real lives. So, it is better that they switch that off and go into this wonderland and see supernatural things, talk about it, switch off the TV and sleep peacefully.”

Asked if such content is regressive, she said: “Most of the ratings we are getting are from small towns and not metropolitan cities.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2016.

Like Life & Style on Facebook, follow @ETLifeandStyle on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.