Tejal Sinha
MTV Roadies-one of the most intense youth shows that’s made up to 19 seasons, has always been the talk of the town from the day it premiers. This season is going to be much more gripping than the previous ones. Even before the show premiered its first episode, the promo itself made the show, a grist for the gossip mill.
Nevertheless, making this ‘Karm ya Kaand’ season much of a hot potato is the continuous brawl between the gang leaders especially between Gautam Gulati and Prince Narula. Now while the season is on the tail end of its auditions, and nearing the beginning of the intense tasks, we have our debutant gang leader Gautam taking us through how did the season happen to him, from being rejected as a contestant to being the gang leader, the hot scuffle between him and Prince, and more.
For the unversed, it was around 17 years ago that Gautam had in fact given his first audition in the show, but was rejected by Nikhil Chinapa and Raghu Ram. He’d in fact shared a before and after video where one can see him from the auditions and now being a gang leader. “It feels amazing to be a part of MTV Roadies,” he begins while recalling his audition days. “I still remember when I was in 12th standard, I had given an audition for the show where I was rejected earlier, and now today I am here as the judge. Of course, it feels great. I just wish Raghu, Rajeev, and Ranvijay were also there.”
It was while Gautam was shooting in London for one of his international project, when he got a call from MTV. He revealed that he did get a call from the team long time back, however, due to some time constraints he couldn’t say yes. But this time, he knew he had to take it up. While going ahead in this exclusive interview, he further revealed, “Honestly, after that I was rejected, I never watched the show. Sometimes it’s better you move on, since you’ll have better and bigger dreams. I achieved a lot of better and different dreams (he giggles) that I forgot about this one. Now that it has come back to me after 17 years, I took it up. I wasn’t thinking much about it but when it had come to me this time, I was like ‘Chalo bahut pehle wala sapna pura karte hai aur isko bhi tick mark lagadete hai and aage badhte hai.’ (Now let’s fulfill this former dream and let’s tick off this from the list too, and move forward)
If you’ve been following the season since its first episode, something that one would notice is that it’s not easy for a contestant to make Gautam pull down the lever, as compared to other gang leaders. So, what’s something that makes one contestant stand up to his list? Let’s hear what he’s gotta tell us, “The contestant needs to be overall perfect for the show. According to my vision, when they enter I can feel their vibe, even in 5 minutes, I get to know what these people can do. This is why I’m a bit stricter with that but I’m not strict with my language. I’m not going to use any bad language or whatever, because thats not me. People who come here come with their dreams. I am not someone to abuse them or roast them, that’s not me. I feel that I can understand their problems, feel it and I shouldn’t be the reason to increase someone’s problem, rather try to lessen it down. If I like them I’ll try to take them in my team, if not I’d straight away say ‘No’.”
With Gautam and Rhea being new to the show, we wondered if he somehow feels pressured, and that Prince Narula would have an advantage since he’s been in the show for quite a while. He promptly says and in fact brings an exclusive revelation, “We are doing really well, we are winning almost all the tasks, and in fact, Prince was third in one of the tasks, though he has been an old gang leader. We’ve noticed a lot of things and half of them he couldn’t understand only. So we are playing very smart it’s going really well and honestly, the bond that we have with our gang. So there’s nothing like we have any sort of pressure. MTV Roadies is not about the gang leaders, it’s about the game being played by the MTV Roadies team. There are a lot of ups and downs in the show, and nothing of them is either in any of our hands. It all depends on the Roadies who are playing and unexpected things come from the MTV Roadies team, they are very creative and superb, I must tell you. They are doing a very good job and I’m really enjoying the show.”
Recently, in one of the interviews, Prince Narula opened up on the rift with his fellow gang leaders, and said, ‘Roadies is a show for them, but its an emotion for me’. To this, he says, “See, it’s an emotion for me as well because it was in Roadies that I gave my first audition after my school. It’s not just an emotion for Prince but also for me. You can just not force things, or if you feel even the slightest of insolence, what can you do? You’ll obviously take a stand for yourself. Initially, I did feel bad like the way he was behaving and his tone. I’m very senior to him. I’ve been working for 17 years and this guy has just done 3-4 shows and his attitude is next level. But I still kept quiet because we are of the same age, there’s not much difference. And so later I just felt this guy is very kiddish, bachpana hai. If he’s gonna say things, which I feel they’re just unnecessary topics and I’m just gonna avoid these little things and move forward in life I don’t keep any negativity towards anyone but yes if it grows in the future then it’s a different thing, ‘ill manage it my way.”
Like we had already said, this season has been much more intense than the previous ones. This intensity can in fact take a toll on oneself. Like we, did you also wonder how does he make sure to maintain his cool, and not let things affect his game? Well, he says, “I’m a very calm and composed person in my personal life. Many a time there are shows where somewhere your aggression comes out but in this show just like how in Bigg Boss, there’s a different aggression. I used to be sarcastically smart to give it back and turn it into comedy and entertainment to entertain the viewers. But here if I’d felt something is wrong, I did make sure to say that this certain thing shouldn’t happen. I still manage to take this forward and it’s not a big thing, it’s a very small something to handle. It’s all up to you on how you manage. If I feel that there’s a lot happening, then you’ll see my other Bigg Boss side. There are times when you need to speak up and take a stand for yourself. If you keep quiet it might look like you’ve genuinely made a mistake. I don’t need extra screen time. I’m not desperate for screen time. I’m only going to present myself like how I am.”