Meet Hameeda from Zed Plus

Someone once said that dreams would come true when you not only dream about it but work towards making them real. That’s what Mona Singh did when she grabbed her first ever iconic role on television as Jassi (the lead character in the daily soap called Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi). In an exclusive conversation with OWN, Jassi aka Mona Singh went nostalgic while sharing her memory of Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi, she said “Like anyone, I too wanted to be an actress. I didn’t have any training but then I would travel every day to Mumbai from Pune to audition for roles. I gave many auditions, waited for calls, got rejected but finally one day grabbed the role of Jassi for which I had to audition in 10-15 different looks. That decision was the best by far as from then on I never had to look back.”

What is your role in your upcoming movie Zed-Plus?

Adil Hussain, who plays the role of Aslam Puncturewala gets zed security due to some misunderstandings with the prime minister; I play the role of his wife, Hameeda. This is the first time that I am playing the role of a Muslim women and a character which is very aggressive, dominating and serious but also stern about her principles. I am quite a chirpy person and keep smiling, but in this movie you won’t see me smiling even for a second. She is a village woman but also represents those set of women who economically supports her family by working.

How difficult was the role?

I am always seen playing the role of a Punjabi character because I inherit such an accent, but for this role I had to come out of my comfort zone. The dialect is quite different and the character speaks pure Hindi, which we don’t speak in real life. Most of the dialogues are idioms which I personally haven’t heard before but it was an amazing experience because I learned a lot from the director and my co-actors.
On our request, she enacted us one of her dialogues which was: “Ek chuhe ko haldi ki gaanthh kya mil gayi, khud ko pansari samajhne laga”

How was the experience of being under Zed Security?

See initially everyone would be excited to have such security because you get attention, for which you shout out your entire life. But obviously it is not possible to have zed security around you all the time because you lose your freedom, privacy etc. you cannot lead a normal life. After this movie, I would not want to have any sort of security on me unless I am going to some packed event because I feel it is as good as a curse.

You have acted on television and now in movies, so what difference you find in both?

In movies, you aren’t in a hurry to wind up; in serials you are because the tape has to go for telecast. Same goes with creativity, for movies you have a lot of time but for serials it gets monotonous. For actors there is no difference because whether it is a serial or a movie, it is your performance which is judged and that matters.

What made you say yes to this role?

There were a lot of roles that were coming my way for both television and movies but good scripts take a while to come and especially after doing a serial like Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi and an iconic movie like 3 Idiots, one ought to be choosy. This movie is an intelligent satire and humour and as audiences have become very intelligent and vigilant about their choices it is important for every director to be on their toes. So, this fact about the movie and my character’s depth made me say yes to this role.

You don’t belong to a theater background, would you give it a chance in the near future?

While shooting for this movie I realized that even theater is very important to grow as an actor, so I have taken the challenge and next month I will be seen on stage doing theater with my show, “Unfaithfully Yours”.

Any message to our readers?

It has been 10 beautiful years in this industry and I have got a lot of support. I would like it if people would watch the movie and appreciate it. There are quite a lot rumours about the industry but I think it is the same with every industry, what matters is how you behave or take control of the situation. Surround yourself with positivity and things would get better.