IN YOUR FACE: (Top) Rakhi Sawant and her chosen one, Elesh Parujanwala, in Rakhi Ka Swayamvar; (below) Rakhi will now do a reality show modelled on the UK show, Baby Borrowers

When the silver screen beckons, you have to yield. Little Neeru Sawant did just that — and some more. She sold her mother’s utensils to collect money for cinema tickets. And she, her younger brother and sister all ended up in Geeta cinema, watching Sridevi gyrate in Chandni.

It was this passion for cinema that catapulted Neeru from Mumbai’s slums to plush sitting rooms in the spiffiest of colonies. And a million-odd viewers with their remotes crowned Neeru, now better known as Rakhi, India’s first reality television queen.

Raise a toast to 32-year-old Rakhi Sawant — she has succeeded in keeping the entire nation glued to TV sets this summer. Rakhi ka Swayamvar — where the actress chose her would-be husband on television from among a gaggle of aspirants this August — is still being talked about. “It’s not a show for me — it’s the beginning of a new phase in my life,” says Rakhi.

By all accounts, the life has been rather remarkable — mapping a journey from the slums of Maya Nagar, perched on the slope of Worli Hill in Mumbai, to a housing complex called Serenity in Lokhandwala, a tony Mumbai suburb. It’s been a story of struggle, tears, humiliation — and controversies.

Brother Rakesh recalls those difficult days in the slum, when mother Jaya, a nurse, would lock her three children in the house as she went out to earn a living. “We wanted to play, so every day we lifted the tiles on the roof and zoomed off. We would be back by the time she came home,” he says.

The ending wasn’t all that happy when they sold the utensils. “We were busy munching popcorn during the interval when we heard our names being announced. We were caught and properly thrashed by our parents all the way back home.”

Their childhood was troubled, for Gujarati Jaya was Maharashtrian cop Anand Shankar Sawant’s second wife. It was difficult to maintain two families on a policeman’s salary, so Rakesh was packed off to a boarding school in Panchgani, while the two daughters flitted between schools in Mumbai.

But Jaya’s hopes were on Rakhi — who was already growing up to be a bold beauty. Mother and daughter went around with Rakhi’s portfolio and met producers at Lokhandwala, hoping for a break.

To begin with, she was signed up for road shows, but Rakhi soon became the highlight of the song-and-dance events where she outshone everybody in her skimpy dresses, swaying to Bollywood numbers. Then came the itsy-bitsy roles. For nine years, from the late Nineties, Rakhi acted in 26 films. In 2000, director Suneel Darshan cast her as a dancer opposite Govinda in what’s called an item song in Joru Ka Ghulam, and she had a side role in Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne (2003). But the big break happened with Farah Khan’s Main Hoon Na in 2004.

Khan was casting for the film — and there was a crowd of young girls who had come for the role of Mini. One of them was in a burkha. Khan wasn’t very keen to try her out, for the role was that of a sexy young girl. At the end of the audition, the burkha-clad girl was summoned. She threw open her robes and emerged in a skirt that left little to the imagination. Rakhi had arrived. Though she never really made it big on the silver screen, she continued to sizzle as a dancer.

Controversies dogged her along the way. A television channel tried to do a sting operation on her, and she was in the news when Daler Mahendi’s singer brother Mika tried to kiss her publicly in 2006. The same year she was booked for obscenity by the Kolhapur Police after a stage show in the city.

But Rakhi’s in-your-face brashness had started gathering eyeballs. In 2007, she appeared on Karan Johar’s popular TV chat show, Koffee With Karan, which had so far featured the biggies of Bollywood. That year, she figured in Nach Baliye 3 with her partner, Abhishek Awasthi, which followed the 2006 reality show, Big Boss.

“In her own way, she has managed to build the Rakhi Sawant brand,” says Anil Wanvari, editor-in-chief, Indiantelevision.com. “She is hardworking, professional, and a go-getter. She speaks her mind . She appeals to our sense of voyeurism.”

But clearly, Rakhi is still a troubled soul. Though sources in the industry say she earns something in the range of Rs 1.5-2 crore per television show, her personal life has not been happy. She has broken off ties with her mother and brother — a fact that Rakesh regrets.

“She didn’t tie a rakhi on me this year,” says the brother, who has directed films such as Hot Money (2006) and Wafaa (2008). “She will be upset if you write about it. She is like the Maharashtrian chilli — she can get very angry.”

She moved away from her family purportedly because of her relationship with the much younger Awasthi, but the two have since split. “I would not like to say anything about Rakhi,” says Awasthi who is now doing a TV show called Jugni Chali Jalandhar. “I would not like to delete any moment of my past. It was golden, precious and memorable.”

Rakesh, however, believes that she left her family because she was “beginning to be ashamed” of Jaya. “You know Rakhi deals with a certain set of people and she is embarrassed being with my mother,” he says. Mother and daughter — who have both embraced Christianity — bump into each other every Sunday at the Good Shepherd Church in Four Bungalows, Andheri — but they don’t talk.

Rakhi has her own life — including her new relationship with Elesh Parujanwala, whom she chose as her would-be husband on TV. Rumours are rife about the two separating even before they can tie the knot, and Rakesh is not very enthusiastic about the matter. “I will be very happy if she marries, but you know in India marriages don’t happen in television shows. And besides, this Elesh fellow looks like somebody who is in it only for publicity and to pursue his own acting career.”

That may be uncharitable. But after Swayamvar, Rakhi is now going to appear on a show that is based on the popular UK show Baby Borrowers, where she and Elesh will be tested on their compatibility. Her relationship with Elesh may or may not work out, but the show promises to focus the arc lights on Rakhi once again. And what’s a heart ache or two when the world is watching?