I remember the single happiest day of my teenage years. I came back from school and found a pink letter on my table. It was a friendship band that was sent by Jasmeet Walia, aka Jassi. At 12, I genuinely thought of Jassi [the lead in the show Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin (2003–2006)] as my friend. And there began my love for Mona Singh. Many years later, during an interview, I told her this story and she laughed. “That innocence of Jassi is something I hope we always carry with ourselves,” she’d told me.

In the past few years, everywhere we look, we see Singh. She is the tough cop in Sudeep Sharma’s Kohrra. She is a don in Vir Das’s wacky Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos. She is the hero’s warm mother in Aryan Khan’s Ba***ds Of Bollywood (2025). She is the doctor who can save the world in Netflix’s Kaala Paani (2023). She is also Sunny Deol’s bantering wife in Border 2. And she is the menacing Babli Didi, a mafia queen in Suresh Triveni’s Subedaar. It raises the same question in everyone’s mind — how is she in so many things all at once, never looking out of place in any of these diverse set ups?

The best answer I found to this, came from a late night conversation with Saurabh Khanna, writer of Yeh Meri Family (2018), and the producer of Kaala Paani (2023). He said, quite-matter-of-factly, “She is a Bachchan! Aap koi bhi film dekh lo, Bachchan sahab ki, film kaisi bhi ho, Bachchan sahab kabhi kharab nahin hotey!”

Khanna’s Yeh Meri Family is considered to be Singh’s turning point. She played a mother to three kids in ’90s small town India. What about that show made Khanna think of Singh? “When we started casting, we knew we wanted familiar faces. This wasn’t a show about big lines, big drama. It was about everyday stories. She has this unique quality that she can shine in whatever you give her. Very rarely do we get actors who take punt on fresh ideas, who don’t ask ‘mere opposite kaun hai?’”

Singh broke out with her iconic role Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin in 2003. The role itself was a risk. Television boom had seen an influx of interesting new actors but for any avid TV viewer of that era, Jassi was a revelation. An unofficial adaptation of Ugly Betty, Jassi too was the story of how a spirited young hard working woman is constantly admonished because she does not meet the traditional standards of beauty.  At its peak, the show touched a TRP of 9.2 making it among the most-watched television programs in the country. In Jassi, young women saw their own story of being reduced to just their looks.

But success, especially of that magnitude, comes with its own design to pigeonhole someone. For Singh, the shadow of Jassi wouldn’t leave so easy. For years after the show ended, the industry struggled to see her beyond the braces.

“There was a time when people only saw me as Jassi,” she has said. Breaking that image took a lot of courage from her end, which also meant fresh punts. Between 2006 (after Jassi ended) and 2009, Singh was on both Jhalak Dikkhla Jaa and 3 Idiots (2009) — her first film with Aamir Khan, trying her hand at evolving in whatever way she could. She hosted reality shows, did her work in TV but she was made for greater things and it was the advent of OTT that put the spotlight back on her craft.

But it was Khanna’s Ye Meri Family and Ekta Kapoor’s Kehne Ko Humsafar Hai (2018–2020), that was the first of her big OTT outings. In the latter, Singh plays an independent artiste in a relationship with a married man. Written by Neena Gupta, the show portrays Singh with grace.

In 2018, Singh had told mid-day, “It is a tricky part. Ekta Kapoor (the show’s producer) was very sure from the beginning that she will not project her as a vamp. She is a modern woman who happens to fall in love with a married man.” It ties in with what Khanna had told us about Singh’s choices, “Expect the unexpected from her. That’s what she is seeking.”

It’s this very tryst that took her to play Aamir Khan’s mother in Laal Singh Chaddha (2022). As Singh had once corrected me, she is Laal’s mother, defending her decision of agreeing to play a mom to a man well her senior. During his drive from Goa to Mumbai, Adavait Chandan, director of Laal Singh Chaddha, called us to chat about what makes Singh such a phenomenal actor.

“There is a scene where she is crying when Aamir’s character is graduating. Even when I was directing that scene, I had tears in my eyes. It is my favourite scene of hers. She did become Laal’s mother. I find that loyalty she has her for work and craft, her most defining quality. She is a really great person and that energy feeds every character she plays. When our film didn’t work, she held me and we cried together. She taught me so much about how resilient an actor can be.”

But co-stars remember something entirely different about Singh. It’s her big laugh, that stays with those she meets on set, and her ability to remain calm under pressure.

Co-star Aditya Rawal, who worked with her on Subedaar, tells us, “This one day we had a big shoot sequence for Subedaar. We were shooting in Chembur and had ordered for chole bhature from somewhere. And then we had this really intense scene. No matter what Mona is shooting, she has this ability to stay calm. She can switch on and off between scenes. She is seamless in front of the camera. And as someone who was working with her, that I felt is the reason why she has endured across mediums, formats,” Rawal tells us.

Aditya Sarpotdar who directed her in the hit film Munjya (2024), told us, “She has always been a very secure actor. She would always encourage the new younger talent and was very approachable for all the young actors around her.”

But no one can read you better than the one who gave you your break. Rajan Shahi, who directed Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin, says the secret to her evolution is quite simple. It’s the one virtue she has had all along in her life, “When I think of Mona, the thing that stands out is she is a selfless soul. She is a true artiste. I remember something from her pre-Jassi success days.  She was a nervous student, sitting with script, learning lines, scared before exams. Till date, she is still that nervous student wanting to do well. After the show broke out, Mona was the biggest TV star back then. I remember one day SRK was crossing our set, he and his children waved at her and she waved back. We then got a call from Yash Chopra saying Shah Rukh and his kids want to meet Mona. So many people change after success. They slow down creatively, fame corrupts them. But Mona has stayed grounded. She is humble and kind. When I watched Kohrra season two, I was so surprised that the same young girl is this fine actor today. You know why Mona jaisi koi nahin, because Mona remains unfazed by fame!”

Actor Mona Singh is in the midst of a packed release calendar, with three projects, Happy Patel Khatarnak Jasoos, Border 2 and Kohrra Season 2, arriving in the last two months.

In the second season of Kohrra, the 44-year-old essays a sub-inspector in a narrative that explores gendered power structures and entrenched patriarchy. Mona believes the themes are not far removed from reality, including within the entertainment industry.

She shares, “There’s a brotherhood romance going on in the industry, where a woman is often made to feel like the outsider,” adding that such dynamics play out across professions. “I see that in every field, it’s pretty evident everywhere. Be it male drivers feeling that ego where the boss is a woman. I see that at home, when the cook comes, they want the man to decide what is to be cooked, instead of the lady of the house telling them,” she adds.

Mona continues, “In many homes, women are not even considered for decision-making; it’s the men who take the call. They even decide even for women at times, for the most important decisions of their lives. Everything is told, she’s never asked. So that’s exactly what we are showing in our show as well. Everything is so real and raw that it hits you.”

Reflecting on portraying a cop within a male-dominated system, Mona says, “Being a woman cop, there’s a constant need to prove yourself, to prove your capabilities. There is this underestimation of physical capabilities of women.”

As Kohrra Season 2, released recently, opened to rave reviews, especially for its intriguing storytelling, writer Gunjit Chopra feels the spotlight hasn’t changed the reality for screenwriters.

“After every show, you’re back to a blank page. It’s not the same financial security that maybe an actor gets,” he says, adding, “We need to do more for screenwriters so they feel safe to tell their stories. Most writers think, ‘Let me make one story I want, and then one for the producer, so I can pay the rent’.”

Set in the small town in Punjab, Dalerpura, the series follows officers Dhanwant Kaur (Mona Singh) and Amarpal Garundi (Barun Sobti) as they investigate a murder. What begins as a routine case slowly unravels deeper truths about the victim’s past, exposing layers of patriarchy, power, and suppressed guilt.

While the first season was praised for its gritty portrayal of Punjab’s underbelly, Season 2 stands out for its deeper emotional resonance and more character-driven storytelling.

The emotional realism that defined both seasons, the screenwriter who also wrote the show Pataal Lok says, came from looking outward. Comparing how thrillers are presented in a human way in foreign cinema, Chopra notes, “In India, we either make things larger than life or go into something like Singham (2011), which is on another tangent.”

He adds, “When you make a human drama, you look for humanity in any profession, be it a cop or a businessman. So that was the idea (behind Kohrra).”

To make sure that the show prioritizes human connection, rather than a mere spectacle, the 38-year-old says, “I did deep research, and I spent a lot of time with cops, so I know it’s not an easy job.”

He adds, “In Punjab, one police station covers 60 to 80 villages and one investigating officer is dealing with 70 or 80 cases. That is not human.”

You can’t talk about Kohrra (2023) without talking about Suvinder Vicky, its breakout star. Now, the Netflix crime thriller has moved on to its second season, albeit without him, and so has he, with the upcoming series Shabad - Reet Aur Riwaaz. Even then, during our chat, Vicky’s attachment to Kohrra was evident as he asked, chuckling, “Are people missing me?”

The second season of Sudip Sharma’s creation features Barun Sobti from the original alongside Mona Singh, a new entrant in the universe. Was it always designed to go ahead without him, we asked Vicky. “Initially, I think the makers didn’t expect the show to blow up in a way that there would be a second season. Sudip has also [said] that. I didn’t even know when the second part was happening, or if it was happening at all. I was shooting for Glory [his upcoming Netflix show] at that time. When I was told that I wasn’t part of Kohrra: Season 2, I thought, ‘Okay, I anyway have work’.”

Did he feel bad about being left out? “Not at all. Whatever happens, happens for the good,” smiled Vicky, presumably referring to Shabad.

The ZEE5 family drama features the actor as a strict patriarch, who wants his son to follow in his footsteps as a Ragi singer. To Vicky, a parent to two girls, the opportunity to explore a father-son relationship was exciting.

He recalled, “After the shoot, I hugged my father, which I had never done in my life. I couldn’t tell him that I love him, so I made an excuse to hug him. I felt so much warmth for him after doing the show.”

Unlike his character, Vicky wouldn’t dream of thrusting his wishes on his daughters. But the actor in him is hopeful that they may join the film industry. “My younger daughter wants to become a doctor, but I tell her that she should try acting. My elder daughter has done a Punjabi film. She asks me if she should [continue] and I [encourage her]. My name [may] help her a bit. Ananya Panday and so many star daughters are doing it. So, why not my daughters?”