Actress and former Bigg Boss OTT contestant Akanksha Puri has got her hands full with several projects lined up in her kitty. In an exclusive chat with The Pioneer, she gets candid about her projects, her stint in the controversial show, and more.
Tejal Sinha
Think of Akanksha Puri, and you’ll always find her being this unstoppable, unapologetic woman, standing strong and inspiring her fans. Her stint, though small, in the ongoing season of Bigg Boss OTT has been an example of the strong persona that we’ve seen in the show.
Being the bold and fierce beauty that she is, she didn’t let her eviction from the controversial show anyway affect her. As soon as she came out of the house, her hands are all full with projects, even in the Bhojpuri industry. She’s in fact seen sharing a sizzling chemistry with actor Sharad Malhotra in the music video Baarishon, vocals by Udit Narayan and Payal Dev.
A perfect melody for the weather, we must say! Exhiliarely, Akanksha begins, “I’d always wanted to work with Payal Dev. With Jubin Nautiyal, I had worked on multiple projects. Jubin and Payal Dev, the duo has always been a hit and now I’m glad that I’ve got to work with Payal Dev. It was a perfect perfect combination of Me, Sharad, Payal Dev, Udit Narayan sir, and Baarish.”
While the love that she’s been receiving for the song still kept going on, she announced being a part of Alt Balaji’s Honey Trap, which is currently streaming. And with people adoring her chemistry with Sharad, her fans got to see her once again with the actor in the series. The action, thrill, and fast-paced series also stars Karanvir Borra and Manu Punjabi.
Did you also think about how back-to-back Akansha got to work with Sharad? Well, go forward and give it a read, “As the name itself suggests, Honey Trap is like this trap that we are going to create for these boys with a lot of glamour but there is action, and something that I cannot really reveal. We shot for it in Mumbai and Dubai.
The shoot was also so quick and this was the shoot I finished before going to Bigg Boss. I was dubbing since 4 am and at 8 I entered the show. This was something that was ready and I’m glad that now I am out and I’m here to promote and see it myself with the team.
The director is again Anand Mishra who directed Baarishon, and that’s how we were shooting this, we were offered this song. It obviously doesn’t end here. We do have some plans, we will be revealing soon and I have some plans with Alt Balaji as well.”
Expressing her camaraderie with co-star Sharad, she states that it’s the bond they share that makes it comfortable for them to work together and work with ease. She in fact reveals, “We don’t even take much time, it’s mostly a one take and the makers are so happy. We have that understanding and ease with each other. So that makes the scene so real and people are loving our chemistry.”
Her eviction was a shock for her fans and followers. She for sure was one of the strong contestants of the season. Though, she, who saw herself as a winner, feels she was more capable and had potential. However, as soon as she was out of the house, she had just performed in Filmfare for her Bhojpuri song in Lucknow and also has two big releases with Pavan Singh and another with Kesari Lal Yadav also.
Any Bigg Boss avid viewer could notice that she was termed ‘fake’ ever since she entered the house. But she stood strong to herself, her morals, and her people. “If I was ‘fake’, I would have changed after they called me fake and you would have seen a different side of me. I was exactly the way I am, be it now or before. It’s been more than ten years that I’ve been there in the industry. People know me already. They’ve seen me like this.
As an artist or celebrity, there’s a responsibility that you hold and it was like I had to work after Bigg Boss as well. I cannot show a different side of me, which is not true. No matter how much I am pushed or labelled, I will still not do that and I’m a very strong person. I just don’t change for this. I took reality shows very seriously and something being real but I think that dint work.”
Going further she does feel that the contestants are actually having strong characters in mind that they want to play in the show. Though I haven’t met them outside, but I don’t think they are exactly how they are playing. It’s like ‘ yeh character humko play karna hai, toh hum chalenge, toh hum dikhenge’ and that’s what they are playing. But see, that is working for them.”
She even went on to accept the fact that she was targeted and sidelined since day 1. For example- In the task which went viral all over where she and Jad had kissed as a part of the task, one can notice it was she who was questioned more than anyone else. People on social media too had mocked her, while on the other hand, Jad even termed her as a ‘bad kisser’.
To this, she feels, “Forget the one who had given the task, he would have been stopped by the Bigg Boss because I’ve seen earlier seasons where when some task is not right or something that they don’t want, they just stop it. So I can’t blame the one who’s given the task or the one who is with me. I felt that if it was not right, they should have stopped it or they should have just blurred the video like for example in Jad’s video when he put down his pants so the video was blurred they could have done that.
So when I came out of the house, I saw a lot of trailers, teasers, and reels on their official pages and that’s what I felt that there were so many things that were told during ‘Weekend ka Vaar and when I come out I see all this. I see the scene being promoted like anything, and then I felt what are this double standard.”
Be it in the previous seasons of Bigg Boss, or her being the contestant this season, controversies have always been surrounded by her. But she, being Akanksha Puri, didn’t let them effect her, and she continues to inspire her fans with her fitness, mental health, and strength. “Life has not been very easy for me. There have been a lot of things that had happened. Even if you notice inside the Bigg Boss house, so many things happened and I never broke down. In those 14 days, they dint give me any bed or mattress.
Those 14 days I slept on the floor but I didn’t make an issue out of it. I dint break down I didn’t cry. I saw people who used to go to jail for one-one days and the way they were behaving. I stayed there for 3 days, I had heat boils, and insects there but I was just smiling throughout Now that journey is over, I have learnt a lot of things too and it’s just that I didn’t wanna keep thinking about it. Life goes on I want to focus on my upcoming work,” she enthuses dismissing the rumours of her entering the Bigg Boss house as a wildcard contestant. She further also states that she’s supporting Abhishek Malhan, and sees him as a winner.
Coming back to her projects, she states that she’s a greedy artist, who would not mind getting up in the morning to shoot with no sleep. Well, that’s how much she loves her work. As an actor, she always looks for a project that excites her and something that she’s not been a part of. Akanksha, who had initially started her acting career down South, is soon going to start shooting for another project in September.
