Actress Sumbul Touqeer Khan had just got evicted from the Bigg Boss 16 house, a week before the finale. In an exclusive chat with The Pioneer, the young actress shares some insights of her journey from the house.
Shikha Duggal
Apart from the pulse-fluttering thrill that comes from knowing that there’s an actress who can not just weave in any dance form so well, but also re-define versatile acting, the 19-year-old Sumbul Touqeer Khan capitalised on her lasting effect in the most super-hit season of Bigg Boss 16.
Scattering insights about her innings inside the house that can startle anyone, she tackles the conversation as, “Soon finishing my league in one of the top running shows with Fahmaan Khan, I entered Bigg Boss and carried the same rock-strewn personality. I was chosen to play the part of “Imlie” because I am shingly in my real life. There were so many facets of my character that I discovered inside the house. For example, I am not a glamorous actress! But, just for the show’s sake I adorned attractiveness, and I am way too far than the other actresses who really look enchanting very organically.”
This early success didn’t come handy to her. To elucidate in a better way, she recalled, “When we shifted to Mumbai for my career, I still remember until a few years ago my father swore that we aren’t going to buy a refrigerator. It wasn’t out of worsening financial conditions, also because he knew we’ll start adopting the contemporary lifestyle and waste food. He just can’t tolerate that! Post my serial’s success, if you ask me what changed? Now, we have a refrigerator (she laughs out loud). My personal life improved a lot, what was more important that I made my family financially stable all alone at a very young age. Before the stardom, second-rate would be an understatement to describe my financial conditions.”
She illuminated the readers a little more, “During the progression of my soap-opera, I decided to live alone. I was just 18-year-old. I hardly had money to eat food or pay my electricity bills, the situation was so bad that I tried persuading my producers to give me an advance so that I could sustain in a competitive city like that.”
Yes, she is sorry about bonding with Shalin Bhanot. She simplifies it for us, “It was entirely friendship, Tina Datta butchered that bond. Post Salman Khan calling me “obsessed”—I decided to become a low woman on a tatem pole because Tina amplified it so much. Contestants were constantly coming to blows and I was sitting like an effigy. The wake up calls were falling on deaf ears for me because I was worried about my honour now. I am extremely young, just started my career and I din’t wanted a random contestant to just slay my fame for their sadistic pleasure.”
She accepts, Weekend ka Vaar shattered her confidence. She was certainly feeling inferior and what made it worse was, “The contestants inside the house do not let you forget the backlash. Although, Tina Datta or Priyanka Chahar Choudhary were battered even more than me. That wasn’t highlighted! Even after Tina character assassinated me, I still don’t like to hold grudges with her. That’s just not the way I was brought up.”
Her father, who is a flag-bearer of women empowerment, only taught his daughter Sumbul to promote self-worth inside the house.
She continued, “Both my father and Sajid Khan taught me to stand up for equality. They asked me not to portray myself as underrepresented because we aren’t less valuable than boys. While some progress is being made in various parts of the country, there is still a great deal left to be done to address the problems of gender inequality. The girls inside are only singing the songs of women empowerment, in reality, they do not stand for it. Most of them played the woman card like any other season, and my friend Shiv was a victim of it recently. Tina Datta accused Shalin Bhanot of character assassination charges, what was she doing to me? She just didn’t malign me, but didn’t even leave Shalin as a man.”
There were discussions outside about Sumbul being bullied inside but the actress firmly denies this conversation in the outer world, including her team. She said, “Using the word “bully” is very strong, you can’t use it loosely like this. Sajid Khan started to see his niece in me, he was just fooling around with me. I wasn’t bullied, for the record! It was my decision to allow him to do that “masti” with me. I was so happy with the extension of the season, I found it as an opportunity to open up a tad bit more. I am not the person who would go about ranting just for the cameras, I am not Archana Gautam. I only spoke when I felt backstabbed, that’s it. Especially, making brawls on food is very cheap, in my eyes. Archana was trying to paint me as a servant, no — the difference is I am a hard-working girl who accepted that set as my own house.”
It was for the first time in the season that someone’s family was talked about much more than the contestant and it was her father. Few felt he’s being mocked by Sajid Khan or Salman Khan but again the young lad filters this controversy, “My father took it with a pinch of salt. In fact, I was the one who was feeling apprehensive about how he must be feeling. But as Sajid Khan says, “he is much more experienced than me”. He didn’t feel bad at all! I even liked the way Fahmaan Khan stood for my father outside like a rock-solid man. This is my beautiful takeaway from the show.”
