Payal Rohatgi

One of the more controversial of housemates in Bigg Boss, actress Payal Rohatgi got evicted last Friday. Talking to t2 post-eviction, Payal sounded composed, measured and happy with herself, quite unlike all those who were ousted from Bigg Boss before her...

Eight weeks... it’s been quite a long stay inside...

Yes, it’s been quite long... And I am happy about that.

Happy because it was long or happy because you are out?

Happy because it was long and happy because I am out at the right time. I was really missing my life outside the Bigg Boss house.

If you were to describe your stay inside the house in short, how would you describe it?

Exposed to extreme conditions... kind of figured out how to cook, wash clothes, wash utensils... interact with people who are from different cultures... like them and then end up nominating them every Monday and be the reason of their eviction, if any of them get evicted. A show which shows maximum reality and personality of the individual present on the show.

How much of the real Payal Rohatgi did we get to see every night? Or was it a complete put-on?

I think, a lot.... You got to see a lot of myself inside.... After all how much can Colors channel edit? You have to show the reality... that’s what the show is about. What you saw, well, that’s what I am. You saw me reacting to situations. You saw me without my mother, someone I spend all day or at least speak three times a day if I am not in town. That was a situation very extreme to me. Maybe that’s why some of my outbursts would seem different.

Why did you get inside the house in the first place? Were you out of work?

I have been in the industry for quite long. Neither am I a newcomer nor am I that established. So I wanted a regeneration of my career with whatever visibility the show offered. Television is a very good medium... for everybody right now. I didn’t want to be out-of-sight out-of-mind. I thought Bigg Boss was a good way of being seen. Also my film Dil Kabaddi was slated to release around this time and the visibility would have helped but now I learn it has been pushed back.

But were you ready for the kind of muck that got thrown around inside the house?

That’s what the show is all about. It’s a question of endurance. If I chose to not to react to a certain fight, Sambhavana’s (Seth) way of reacting to it was in a different way. I don’t want to comment on it whether it was right or wrong. Because we are all different people. We all have something good inside us and something grey inside us. Nobody around is perfect. In real life you have a problem and you just walk out of the situation. Here you had to stay with the same person inside the house, eat with her, sleep with her. You cannot keep ignoring someone. I would try and wait for things to die down.

But hasn’t it gone beyond the show? Sambhavana said in an interview that she would like to hit you, once you are out...

I am really shocked to hear that! She wants to hit me? Oh god, then if I have to meet her somewhere, I have to go with five bodyguards! But I don’t harbour similar feelings. It never went beyond the show from my side.

A large part of the show became about you and Rahul (Mahajan) and the triangle with Monica (Bedi). What’s on between the three of you?

No, I think we made it very clear that Rahul and I are very good friends. And it has been so for a long time. We have seen each other in good times, bad times. There is obviously going to be a bonding, a biasedness... About Monica, she is a sweet girl... she has her own sensibilities, she has seen enough in life to know what’s good and what’s bad. And Rahul and she seem to be good friends. I am nobody to comment on their friendship. My friendship with Rahul was before the show and will be there after the show.

Who, do you think, will go from here to win the show?

I will again vouch for Rahul because I am his friend. I hope he wins the show.