We Will Always Have Mona Singh

The Hindi entertainment industry may still be figuring out how to write female characters past a certain age, but Mona Singh’s “second innings” is a masterclass, writes Swetha Ramakrishnan.

Swetha+Ramakrishnan

Mar 08, 2026

In Kohrra 2, Mona Singh carries her trauma like a handbag, putting it down every time it gets too heavy.

ONLY AN ACTOR LIKE Mona Singh can have multiple “seeti maar” dialogues in a show like Kohrra (season 2), a deeply disturbing and unsettling series that doesn’t shy away from spotlighting grief, gore and violence. In one of my favourite scenes, Singh’s Dhanwant Kaur tells Inspector Garundi (Barun Sobti) that the case they’re working on is getting complicated because the murdered victim is tedhi (twisted). Garundi replies in the typical way men do, “Jananiya toh tedhi hi hondi ae (women are usually twisted).” She claps back moments later, “Bande vi kuch katt nai honde (men are no less).”

It’s worth noting that Singh has built a rare mid-career language of restraint (even as her characters can be expressive and humourous), whether it’s in shows like Ba***ds of Bollywood and Kaala Paani or playing big roles in films like Border 2 and Laal Singh Chadha. There's a lot of chatter about how she's reinvented herself; her graph from TV’s darling in Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi to playing a Goan don in a film like Happy Patel is worth studying. However, her being back in the limelight at this stage points to something much larger, and more insightful.

Singh’s recent run of performances rarely announce themselves. There are no grand monologues, no scene-stealing breakdowns. Yet, the emotional architecture of the story often rests quietly on her shoulders. Kaala Pani, Laal Singh Chaddha, Kohrra 2, Happy Patel, Border 2: these are patient, not flashy, performances. And they have left an indelible mark.

All her performances are noteworthy because she sinks herself into the character without taking away from the larger narrative. In Kaala Pani her brief role is to stabilise the chaos and paranoia of the apocalyptic tension unfolding. In Kohrra 2, she carries her trauma like a handbag; putting it down every time it gets too heavy. In Happy Patel she doesn’t perform comedy, she distributes it. Filmmakers and showrunners must trust her to perform for the story and not for the camera. As an ardent viewer and a longtime fan, I feel her greatest quality is how she’s mastered the art of holding a scene, rather than stealing it. This can best be seen in her quieter moments in Kohrra 2.

Makes you think: how wondrous would it be if middle-aged women on screen were allowed to simply exist in their performances, without earning their presence through suffering or sacrifice?

On that note, Singh’s choices of roles in the last few years have been interesting to watch. All her characters are complicated adults with radical “normalcy” at the forefront. She represents a demographic of women who are, what the mainstream would call, “past their prime”, and yet with each character she reaches a new level of emotional and narrative depth. I believe this is possible because of Singh’s commitment to artistic authority. Maybe she isn’t even doing all this deliberately, but this is a rare career graph of a woman who became a household name with Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi did not let that landmark cultural moment define her range and now is exploring what her artistry looks like in a world of content expansion (and fatigue). It’s genuinely applause-worthy. I don’t think I will ever get over the last 20 minutes of Ba***ds of Bollywood, where she alters ‘90s pop culture in a groundbreaking way.

Mona Singh does not appear burdened by the seriousness of her work. Compared to her performances of gravitas and excellence on screen, her interviews and off-screen moments are mischievous, punchy and animated. She pulls her costars’ legs, narrates anecdotes with a sparkle in her eye, speaks of heavy scenes like one talks about acidity, and often relies on self-deprecating humor to bring a smile to everyone’s face. The parallels are charming, to say the least. In an industry that still treats youth as a benchmark and relegates middle-aged women to archetypes like mother, mentor and moral compass, Singh’s characters are a brand of their own. The Hindi film industry has a bunch of interesting middle-aged actors who hold space without trying too hard, but Singh’s “second innings” offers a significant promise of freshness and expansion. The industry may still be figuring out how to write female characters past a certain age, but we’ll always have Mona Singh.

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