Gaurav Khanna reacts on Nikki Tamboli clash & Bigg Boss 19 prep: 'Lotus shines & mud stays..'

Television heartthrob Gaurav Khanna, fresh off his successful stints in Anupamaa and Celebrity Masterchef, is now gearing up to enter the Bigg Boss 19 house. In an exclusive conversation with India Forums, Gaurav got candid about what drew him to the show this year, how he plans to tackle the mental challenges inside the house, and whether his cooking reality show experience will help him navigate the chaos of Bigg Boss.

Congratulations on Bigg Boss! What made you say yes to the show this year?

Because I had time, I was not busy with any other show as of now and probably they connected with me at the right time, so I always feel it's all destiny when you do things, though I have been in talks for so many years in the past but I was always busy with other shows so I couldn't do it, so this time I thought why not, just break the mould and do something absolutely different which people will not expect from a guy like me to do, but then whenever I have done that I have got immense love from people, so hopefully that state continues.

You won Celebrity Masterchef, but that was a completely different genre. Do you think that experience will help you inside the Bigg Boss house?

I always feel that any experience which you go through in life can never be wrong, good, bad or ugly because it always teaches you to do things in a different manner if you are put in circumstances and situations further in life, so I feel the same thing happened with me when I did my last reality and people said, are you in the right show where you are cooking and it's a cookery show, what are you going to do in it, so I proved them wrong and more than them I wanted to prove myself, similarly with Bigg Boss scenario I am trying to prove it to myself whether it happens, it doesn't happen, it's not in my hand but I will give it my 100% and people are very sharp nowadays, people are very intelligent nowadays, viewers you can't take them on a ride, they know who is faking, which one is not faking, which one is real, so I think it's the right time for me to do Bigg Boss, I feel, because more than me even the fans are so aware now, so it's a good thing, for real people it's very good to be a part of such a show.

You had a brief clash with Nikki Tamboli during Celebrity Masterchef. If similar confrontations happen inside the Bigg Boss house, how do you plan to handle them?

I really don't know because that was a different format, that was a different arena altogether, my personality hasn't changed since Masterchef or prior to that, so I am still the same old Gaurav and I really don't know, I mean it does not need to say that I will always be the way I am because I am a human after all and every human has a right to get agitated, get triggered, get angered and show different shades of emotion, aggression, so just that I try not to get to that threshold pretty early, but then Masterchef was different and Bigg Boss is a very very different thing, here you are going to be put in a corner, you are going to face situations where people will be all over you, against you, so this is the game of how you control yourself, I think it's contrary to the belief, Bigg Boss is not about fights, abuses, physical fights, it's also about mind, it's also about controlling your mind, controlling yourself and you know it's like lotus in a mud scenario, that's why lotus shines and the mud stays where it is.