Jacqueline Julianna

Jacqueline Julianna made her television debut through 1996 serial – ‘ Just Mohabbat Just Mohabbat was a typical Indian Soap Opera/Roma >> Read More... ’. Through this work, she has been able to create her own persona in the field of acting. With her youthful, innocent charm and the smart play of subtle emotions in her face, emotions and use of language, Jacqueline was successful in enticing her audience, who just couldn’t get tired of her presence on screen. Belonging to an Anglo-Indian family background, Jacqueline was raised in a moderately conservative fashion which gave her just enough freedom to pursue whatever career options she wished to choose.

This freedom came as a boon at her time since most of the talented actresses during the nineties faced great oppression from their families, with their parents or husbands.When it came to a profession such as acting, which required a great amount of socializing and interaction, there was a lot of apprehensions. Though the show was highly successful, and Jacqueline’s role in it as Priya received a lot of positive responses of future stardom, ‘Just Mohabbat’ was the only show in which she acted, and she did not venture into the film or music industry and left the small screen for good. This option came as a shock to most of her fans who adored her and wished to see her in a different role. Jacqueline played the role of a lover named Priya, to a boy named Jai- played by Harsh Lunia.

The plot of the series was that of a coming of age tale of Jai, who had escaped from his house and came to live in a hostel where he made friends with new people, and as he grew old, he met Priya, the love of his life- played by Jacqueline Julianna. The story was adapted from ‘The Wonder Years’ which was a similar series highly popular in the West, aired from 1988-93. From the way Jacqueline acts, it is evident that she has followed the series ardently and that she was inspired by the series and the role played by Danica McKellar.

Even though the show was similar to ‘Wonder Years’ in many ways, it was different from it for the fact that ‘Just Mohabbat’ had been ‘Indianized’ owing to the fact that most of the incidents described in the story such as parental oppression, teenage woes, cultural stigma, oppressive educational system, loving friends, etc. were highly relatable to an India audience. Also, artists such as Jacqueline were cornerstones in delivering the effect that the story intended, to the audience. Even though Jacqueline hasn’t acted in anything after ‘Just Mohabbat’, she made a brief appearance on TV through the reality show- ‘Jodi no.1’.