From being television's most adored "perfect pati" Anuj Kapadia in Anupamaa to stepping into Salman Khan's Bigg Boss 19, actor Gaurav Khanna is ready for the ultimate image makeover. Known for his calm, composed, controversy-free persona, Gaurav is now gearing up for a journey where patience is tested, friendships are questioned, and masks are torn apart.
In an exclusive interview with The Free Press Journal, Gaurav opens up about why he chose to enter the reality show, whether he's prepared to shatter the "ideal man" tag, his strategy, and how he plans to deal with kitchen politics, controversies, and the unpredictability of life inside the Bigg Boss house. Excerpts:
You've been the nation's ideal TV husband as Anuj Kapadia. From romance to reality drama...what made you jump into the Bigg Boss battlefield?
I think the world has seen a lot of me in a lot of characters which I have portrayed over the years. But more than anybody else, I wanted to see myself and what better place than Bigg Boss? Here, people will be pushed in a corner, they will succumb to pressure, situations will go against them. Here, a person can break. This is also an opportunity for a person to rise from the ashes and rediscover himself or herself. So that's the reason I'm here.
Fans adore your calm and composed image. But Bigg Boss is known to bring out the wildest sides of people. Are you ready to risk shattering that "perfect man" tag?
Frankly, this perfect man tag is given to the character which I have played. Because I feel we all are human. Behind every character we are humans. And humans have all sorts of emotions. Bigg Boss, yes, you are right... it brings out the worst in you at times. But then that's what I'm here for. I want to see how long I can control myself.
There will be a time when the dam of patience will break. And the other side of Gaurav which people have not seen or people don't think exists might come forward. I'm not here as any other character per se, with all due respect. And I'm here to have fun. And Bigg Boss is not only about fights, quarrels, loudness or fakeness. It's also about real bonding, real friendship, real emotions and real fun. So I would like to have everything on my plate. Let's see which one the audience picks up the most.
What’s Gaurav Khanna's strategy to be in the game?
I have no strategy because I have not been a part of such a show before. So I have really no experience to plan a strategy over this. But yes, I will try to be myself till the time it's possible. Because there will be times when you have to take harsh decisions and do the needful. So I think my only strategy is to be myself for more hours in a day than not be myself. I think when you are real, when you are yourself, you don't have to lie, you don't have to portray, you don't have to act. And people love seeing real people.
Now that you've won a cooking reality show, will we get to see you more often in Bigg Boss house's kitchen?
Can't say, actually the show which I won (Celebrity MasterChef India Season 1) was a very different format. It had fine dining, which I feel is not very practical in a Big Boss house kitchen where the rations are limited. Utensils are not the way they are supposed to be for fine dining. Ingredients are not that sort. So I think it's a different ballgame. But yes, I know cooking so I can definitely be more than a help to anybody who's in the kitchen or if I'm in the kitchen.
Cooking is a life skill which I've learned from that show. But comparing that to this is like comparing pots to pans.
What will be difficult for you to handle inside the Bigg Boss house?
I have been shooting for TV shows for over nearly two decades now. And you people see only half an hour. I shoot for 12 to 18 hours a day. So, technically, it's the similar format of a Bigg Boss because here also we will be awake at least 16 hours a day and we will be sleeping for 8 hours. So it's somewhat similar. So handling those things is not a problem.
Handling elevated egos definitely is. Handling elevated insecurities is definitely a problem. And that's the game. The person who can sail through this, keep his calm for the maximum time without getting wielded up by people abusing him or her is the game, I feel. And yes, let's see what happens. Never say never though.
Have you watched the previous seasons of the show? If yes, whose game did you like the most?
I have not seen a lot of Bigg Boss. I've only seen one season and that was I think everybody's favourite season, Bigg Boss 13, where a lot of my friends were in the show. I just have some memories from that show, not much. And I've seen a little bit of last year's show in the end.
Bigg Boss thrives on controversies. Have you set a line for yourself about what you will and won't do on the show?
There are no pre-planned things or the baggage which I come with. Once I enter the Bigg Boss house, I am plain old Gaurav and the guy from a small town who came to a big town like Mumbai with no Godfather, no help and yet managed to survive his way for 20 years. In a profession like mine, your career is very short lived. So I think Bigg Boss is just a four-month journey. I as Gaurav, as a person, I have probably lived that life for nearly two decades, I feel. Because you have to fight through the competition, you have to fight through hurdles, you have to fight through people who don't like you and try to pull you down. Bigg Boss is an accumulation of life, probably I would say in a nutshell. And we all have lived our part of life and let's see what experience helps inside.
You've had a largely controversy-free image. Are you prepared for people to dig up old rumours or create new ones around you once you’re locked inside?
I have never cared about rumours because I feel it is not a bad thing. People are still talking about you. So I think it's not a bad thing, at least not for an artist. But saying that, I definitely don't want to be a part of a rumour just for the sake of wanting to be famous. But I think it's bound to happen when you are playing in mud, you know, dirt will catch your clothes. So you should be ready and you should face it with your arms open probably. Because as an actor, I've learned one thing that the amount of love you get is always with a lot of hate also which you get.
And it's not only me, I think even the superstars of the Bollywood industry have the most number of haters. Yet, they are superstars, yet they are what they are and people follow them. So I think it's just a part and parcel of being on television.
Love triangles, showmances, and gossip...Bigg Boss is full of them. Do you think married actors like you have an advantage because they can't be dragged into romantic controversies?
I've never thought this way but now if you are saying, I think it might be. But to each his own. I've seen people in the past, I think, not that I know much but I've heard that there were people like that who got into controversies. So again, I don't judge people with their characters because it's a different circumstance and how a different person reacts to a different situation is up to his own. So coming back to your question whether it's a help or not, I really don't know. It all depends on how you want to play the game and in the end, it's a game.
