Ashish Chowdhry — from films like Dhamaal and Shaadi Ka Laddoo — hadn’t done anything adventurous — besides marriage! — before taking the plunge with Khatron Ke Khiladi Season 6. And three months of daredevil stunts later, the actor was the last one standing in the Rohit Shetty-hosted Colors reality show. A t2 chat with the KKK champ. 

Khatron Ke Khiladi is the maximum you have done in terms of adventure in life, right? 
Yes... other than getting married! (Laughs out loud) Before Khatron... 
I hadn’t even tried bungee jumping or scuba diving. 

How important is this win for you?
It is definitely one of my biggest milestones. My debut film Qayamat did well. Dhamaal and Double Dhamaal also did very well. I have been in multi-starrers, but when it comes to individual success, winning Khatron... is the highest point.  

You started off in your teens with the TV show Humko Ishq Ne Maara and you are back on TV...
I am very happy with television. (Returning to) TV turned out to be a damn good decision in every way and in every sense of the term. Listening to my heart paid off. When your intentions are clear and when you are happy through the journey, everything falls into place. When you focus on your goal too hard without enjoying the journey, then that gets difficult. I believed that even if I didn’t win Khatron..., I would go back with memories and friends. 

What was the winning moment like? 
To be honest, before we went in for our last stunt, I already felt the trophy was mine. I was not even fighting for the trophy! I was enjoying all the tasks and had mentally practised them 500 times....

I was possessed when I was doing the final stunt, but (Meiyang) Chang turned out to be a tough competitor.

The biggest lesson I have learnt from Khatron... is that I managed to go through something without the fear of losing. I had the endurance task with co-contestant Rakesh Kumar who is a national kabaddi captain. He is definitely way better as a sportsperson than I am. To beat him in that task (two dune buggys sped along the sand dragging Ashish and Rakesh along. Ashish hung on longer and won) was the highest point for me. 

Normally, every stunt was in my hands. But in the airplane stunt (see above), I felt that the stunt is not in my hands. I thought if the pilot crashes the plane, then I am gone! My family depends on me. At that point, Rohit Shetty was the one who convinced me to go for it. I owe him for the trophy that I have in my hands today. He was very supportive through the journey. He has helped everyone. Every time we went wrong, he would come and help us. This is perhaps the only season where everybody finished all the stunts. It would really hurt him if somebody left a task without attempting it. 

 

How was the bonding between the contestants?  
There was unbelievable bonding. We were all together and we were one. Me winning the trophy is like one brother bringing the trophy for the entire family. They are all happy for me. We were a serious bunch and wanted to do the stunts well. We wouldn’t go out and party the night before a stunt. But after my win, everyone celebrated with me. 

What’s next? 
I don’t need to go through that supposedly natural progression of getting into films from television because I have already done films. I have to just sit back and wait for some good offers in films. But on TV, I am getting a variety of offers. I want to do fiction shows... acting is what I want to do. 

Ratnalekha Mazumdar
Ashish deserved to win Khatron Ke Khiladi because.... Tell t2@abp.in