MUMBAI: Now that Jassi... Jaisi Koi Nahin is nearing an end, Mona Singh speaks on the trauma of being the protagonist 24x7.

Q: Jassi...

A: No, don’t call me that. I am Mona. I have to find my own identity. It’s been three years! Imagine telling people all the time I wasn’t Mona, that I was this make-believe character named Jassi. Initially I sort of enjoyed the anonymity. But after a while it became a mental torture to be Jassi even at awards functions. I used to plead with my channel to let me be myself at least at the awards function. Because it was Mona Singh and not Jassi who received the awards. But they insisted.

Q: So how did you cope?

A: My family was my reality check. My father kept telling me to wait for Jassi’s makeover to happen. Then I’d at least look like myself... I had become like Clark Kent waiting to be Superman. I used to keep repeating to myself, ‘Jassi isn’t me and I am not Jassi.’ In the morning when I’d wake up my hands would automatically go to my face to look for the wig, the glasses... When Jassi’s makeover happened in Mauritius I couldn’t act! I needed the Jassi props (braces, wig, et cetera) to emote.

Q: Are you now comfortable with your own natural looks?

A: I am. It took me a while. Right after the makeover I used to be startled by my own image. There was the upside. Jassi... gave me such amazing fame.

Q: So what plans for the future?

A: I was born on October 8. No. 8 people don’t plan anything. Whenever I do, it all goes for a toss. I just believe in going with the flow. Immediately after Jassi... I need a big break. I am doing a film with Bobby Pushkarna.

Q: Are you fearful of the future?

A: I am not sure what else I can do besides Jassi... But I’m not going to burst into an item number just to prove I’m not Jassi in real life. I’ll only do what I’m comfortable with. I hope there are some good ro-les for me. After going thro-ugh so many personalit changes on Jassi... I can play a psycho very well.

Q: What about your romance with Karan Oberoi?

A: What romance? There’s nothing! I am too ambitious to get into a relationship.

Q: But the two of you sing songs to each other!

A: Each other? I sang to the whole crew of Jassi... and he happened to be part of it. Karan is definitely a good pal, just like Nandu is.

Q: Who’s Nandu?

A: My other co-star Gaurav in Jassi...

Q: Finally, how much have you accumulated in your bank account?

A: Not even a crore. But I’m a very rich woman in terms of the experience Jassi... Jaisi Koi Nahin

has offered me. There were times when I didn’t want to shoot, when I wasn’t convinced of what Jassi had to do. Then

I’d get a call from the channel saying, “Listen this is a daily. Don’t ask questions. Just convince people even if you aren’t convinced.”