After three months of living on a razor’s edge, Aarti Chhabria aced Season 4 of Khatron Ke Khiladi on Saturday night. t2 caught up with the Farex baby-turned-film actress after the win…

How does it feel being the new Khatron Ke Khiladi champ?

It’s a great sense of relief and a great sense of achievement. I have never felt this amazing before. It’s something that has changed my life and me as a person.

What was the winning moment like?

It was a combination of a lot of pain and happiness. In the final stunt, when I fell from the bus, I landed straight on my face. I felt like something had collapsed inside me and I could hardly breathe. Yet, at the same time, I knew that I had won…. It was such a sweet pain… a coming together of so many emotions. More than anything, it was a sense of relief that this was our last task and that the whole thing had come to an end so successfully for me and my (stunt) partner Dhaval.

Why did you enter the show in the first place?

I love adventure sports and I have always wanted to do an action-packed film where I can do my own stunts. But at the same, I also have a lot of fears. Through the show, I wanted to come face to face with my fears… to see how much I can take and how easily I can break.

At what point did you think you could win the show?

It would have to be the penultimate stunt. I got saved by the skin of my teeth in that one and made it through to the last stunt. Looking back, it could have gone either way, but I almost willed it to go my way. Right from the beginning, we had been barely scraping through. We had never been the strongest or the bravest or the most trained on the show.

The stunts were very tiring and we were constantly on the sets. On TV, you watched one episode a week, but we were actually shooting them back-to-back. It was one hell of an experience. I have had my weaknesses and fears. But that was the moment that completely changed the game in my favour. I made sure that I not only did the stunts well, but also managed to look good while doing them (laughs).

Has the show helped you overcome any real fear?

Most definitely. I have been scared of fire… of darkness and of being in closed spaces. On this show, I have been locked in a coffin in the dark and 101 rats have been let loose on me. Staying in that coffin for more than eight minutes really proved to me that I can do it if I want to do it. I have seen a lot of my co-contestants quitting in the middle of a task and I kept praying and telling myself that at no point of time would I give up.

It’s not just my hard work; my prayers also worked. I prayed a lot to Bajrang Bali… I kept reading the Hanuman Chalisa between stunts. This stint on Khatron Ke Khiladi made me very spiritual. I would have the Hanuman Chalisa playing on loop even as I got ready for a stunt. I would do a bit of yoga before we left for the sets in the morning — and this was at 4am! I have always led a disciplined life but my time on the show instilled a lot more discipline in me.

Looking back, what do you think worked in your favour?

The fact that I never quit. It’s not about how hard you fall or the number of times you fail; it’s about how well you adapt and the mindset with which you want to approach the next obstacle. I feel more confident, I have a new-found energy in me. I have been very positive throughout, credit for which must go to a creative visualisation course that I did before the show. It’s a course that helps you cross out negative thoughts, influences and vibes in your life and that’s what I did throughout Khatron Ke Khiladi. I used to turn a deaf ear to talk like how difficult a stunt is or how scared someone was. I just cancelled out all fears before a stunt and just focused.

Also, I wanted to win real bad! Khatron… is one of my favourite shows on TV because no matter how good an actor I am, the films I get and my success as a movie star is dependent on a lot of factors that are not always in my control. Here, everything was in my hands — I had to do well in one stunt to get to the next and the next and the next…. My success on the show was entirely on me.

What kind of an equation did you share with partner Dhaval?

When we got eliminated on the third day, I was very upset because I thought that we had failed a very easy stunt. Dhaval and I didn’t get along well initially, but slowly we got comfortable with each other. Towards the end, we worked well as a team.

Which other contestants had the potential to win the show?

Mauli (Dave)… Diandra (Soares) were very strong. So was Mia (Uyeda).

Aarti prays before a stunt on Khatron Ke Khiladi

Who were you most friendly with?

Alesia Raut. She was my roommate and I couldn’t have wished for anyone better to stay with. At the end of the day, it was so nice to be with someone who wasn’t bitchy or catty, who believed in as much positivity as I did.

After acting with Akshay Kumar in a film (Awara Paagal Deewana), how was it being on a TV show hosted by him?

It was very different. He is a thorough professional and not even for a second did he make the others feel that he knew me from before. He was our guru on the show and, of course, for me it was special because he was my Guru Gulab Khatri in Awara Paagal Deewana (laughs).

We would keenly follow his advice which, by the way, came very sparingly because he didn’t want to let out the tricks of the trade. He was very strict and understood each of us very well — our strengths, our weaknesses and our personalities. Whenever he saw the fear of death in our eyes, he knew exactly what to say and the moment he said it, we would be raring to go. Courtesy Akshay, all of us have found a fearless and daredevil side to us which I am sure will stay with us through life.

What has been your biggest takeaway from Khatron Ke Khiladi?

It’s enriched me as a person… it’s made me more independent. As an actress, I am used to an entourage travelling with me. On this show, I was alone… there was no spot boy holding an umbrella over my head. Here, I carried my own bags… did my own make-up and hair. Then, it’s also brought me closer to god. I have felt god egging me along when I was doing the stunts. God made me win. I know I sound a little mad, but as long as I believe in it, it’s fine.